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Evolution’s Importance to You
Why is evolution is important to you?
You benefit on a daily basis from the medicines, foods, and wonders of nature that are a product of evolution. Scientists use the lessons of evolution to solve some of society’s most pressing concerns, such as defeating human and animal diseases, developing more nutritious food, and protecting threatened plant and animals species.
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Medicine: The application of evolutionary principles has led to greater understanding of viruses and bacteria that can make you sick. For example, scientists now know that the ongoing evolution of bacterial pathogens (germs that cause infections) requires that we continue to discover new and stronger forms of antibiotics.
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Food: The application of evolutionary principles has led to the development of new crops that we rely on for food. For millennia, humans have used the principles of evolution to select and “breed” food crops that maximize the qualities that we value in our staple crops.
As an example, the Indian sweet corn we enjoy each summer is a descendant of an ancient strain of wild corn that was intentionally cultivated and bred by indigenous people in the Americas. These early cultivators took advantage of some of the processes of evolution to artificially transform a wild plant into an essential food crop.
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Wonders of Nature: The application of evolutionary principles has led to the creation of conservation policies designed to preserve valuable biodiversity—the amazing variety of plants and animals that make up our parks, preserves, and other natural spaces.
Evolutionary principles provide scientists with a framework for explaining how and why changes in life forms occur over time. For example, in the field of conservation, scientists collect and analyze genetic data from plants and animals to examine the relationship between genetic variability and extinction risk. These data are enriched by information on past extinctions extracted from the fossil record.
Understanding these relationships allows scientists to identify vulnerable species and habitats. This, in turn, allows policy makers to make informed decisions about boundaries for national parks, conservation protection orders for certain species, and effective environmental education programs.
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Continue to Evolution’s Importance to The Field Museum. >>
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