Evolution is Not Esoteric

After the piece I wrote wishing Charles Darwin a happy birthday, I was not surprised to hear from a few who did not accept evolution, but I was surprised at the number who seem to shy away from this topic fearing conflict, and even worse, some who discounted mountains of scientific evidence to avoid any disagreement.


What other tenets of science will be unspeakable in the name of cultural over-sensitivity?
- The Age of Earth
Oxygen pollution 2.3 billion years ago caused a mass extinction. Evidence is captured in hematite found in Minnesota.
Some rivers in Tennessee have flowed continuously for tens of millions of years.
- Continental Drift / Plate tectonics, which took 30 years for geologists to accept.
- Ice Age
Michigan was covered with a mile thick layer of ice. Results: Limited number of species in Michigan, kettle lakes, sand, clay, Great Lakes

Treating evolution by natural selection as the best model of reality helps to answer all the questions below about North American freshwater fishes. This list would be immensely longer if not restricted to the narrow topic of North American freshwater fish.

Fundulus kansae males flash sunlight off their sides to display to females. Enantiopus melanogenys do the same in Africa. Is this a case of convergent evolution?
Why are Banded Darters found in the upper peninsula of Michigan?
Why aren’t darters found west of the Rocky Mountains?
Why are some fish found in the Ozarks and in Michigan, and nowhere in between?
Are Pygmy Sunfish related to Sticklebacks?
Does DNA tell us anything about the ranges and biogeography of Pygmy Sunfish?
Why aren’t there minnows in South America?
Why are there freshwater stingrays in South America? Are Hogchokers following a similar path in Florida?
Why are there 20 species of Orangethroat Darters?
Why are Greensided Darters in Michigan so different from Greensided Darters in Arkansas?
Why do sunfish hybridize so much?
Why do captive populations of fish sometimes differ significantly from wild fish; for example, hatchery fish are often less fertile and have a lower survival when released?
What kind of environment did the fish, found in fossils near Cleveland, live?
What were the companions of sturgeon and alligators millions of years ago?
Are all livebearers related or did livebearing evolve more than one time. Why do livebearers exist if they produce comparatively few offspring?
Is the human population too high and threatening native species with extinction?
Why are some introduced species so invasive? What keeps these species in check in their native ranges? What can we do about potential and existing invasive species?

Phil, I personally beyond understand where you are going with this and very much agree with you. However You can lead a horse to water but you can not get them to drink. This is pretty much why I avoid (or try to avoid) to whole issue (I.E. scary word Evolution) in dealing with a Diverse online or social community.

It is generally a pointless circular argument that results that is much like a Giant turd swirling around in a toilet bowl..
Sure it can be somewhat amusing watching it spin around, but rarely does it go anywhere, and it somehow always needs to be shoved down the drain pipe eventually due to the fact it begins to stink and believe me that stink becomes Un-amusing pretty quick to those of us that have to clean it up.

That's a pretty straight on analogy Richard lol

Phil, again, sorry I felt it necessary to say it would be best to stop that thread, and I appologize if you felt personally attacked. I personally think it sucks that there's the response you got for what you had post, but this is a community among which there are a variety of views on said topic, most of them quite passionate, and in this case, those against realized you were just talking about something you felt was important and had appologized and were going to stop... So for the sake of avoiding another February meltdown, it seemed most prudent to just let it go as it was.

That said, I hope you had a great Darwin Day. Univ of Toledo sadly overlooked the opportunity to celebrate this event. I'm kinda ashamed I didn't personally do anything about that. We almost came up for the U of M celebration at the Museum, but wussed out at the last minute.

Todd

Education and Scientific Knowledge are prominent in NANFA's mission statement.

I would like a NANFA were all members feel free to talk about any fish topic that comes up. That includes the evolutionary history or adaptations of fish, and hypotheses based on evolution that can be tested.

Self-censorship, pussy-footing around, tap dancing, and walking on egg shells
are poor practices for an educational or scientific discussion.

Self-censorship, pussy-footing around, tap dancing, and walking on egg shells are poor practices for an educational or scientific discussion.

Amen!

Why are Banded Darters found in the upper peninsula of Michigan?
Why aren’t darters found west of the Rocky Mountains?
Why are some fish found in the Ozarks and in Michigan, and nowhere in between?
Are Pygmy Sunfish related to Sticklebacks?
Does DNA tell us anything about the ranges and biogeography of Pygmy Sunfish?
Why aren’t there minnows in South America?
Why are there freshwater stingrays in South America? Are Hogchokers following a similar path in Florida?
Why are there 20 species of Orangethroat Darters?
Why are Greensided Darters in Michigan so different from Greensided Darters in Arkansas?
Why do sunfish hybridize so much?
Why do captive populations of fish sometimes differ significantly from wild fish; for example, hatchery fish are often less fertile and have a lower survival when released?
What kind of environment did the fish, found in fossils near Cleveland, live?
What were the companions of sturgeon and alligators millions of years ago?
Are all livebearers related or did livebearing evolve more than one time. Why do livebearers exist if they produce comparatively few offspring?
Is the human population too high and threatening native species with extinction?
Why are some introduced species so invasive? What keeps these species in check in their native ranges? What can we do about potential and existing invasive species?

Please feel free to discuss any or all of these subjects Phil... Please feel free to open up a topic for each....

We are not going to have a Belief and faith Vs. Science discussion though as it is counter productive and not at all useful to the subject of Native fish biology or conservation. There is no Conservation, Scientific or educational value in arguing Faith vs. science... This seems to be the point of this thread and therefore it has little value here. There are other places to have this broader discussion...In fact there are some that specialize in it. We are not here for this anymore than we are here to discuss quantum physics or flat earth theory....

It is not: "Self-censorship, pussy-footing around, tap dancing, and walking on egg shells"
It is more than anything a useless discussion that is off topic to the core mission of NANFA..