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Introduction
It is a known fact that humans have transformed rapidly in the near history, primarily compared in terms of lifestyle, clothes, technology and social decisions that they usually make. Still, the Mosaic evolution deals with the evolution taking place in the various body structures and their functions. Therefore, human evolution is regarded as the major evolution that ever took place. Still, this major mosaic evolution requires a degree of complexity for it to be major and thus, the human transition is divided into four different transition levels.
Mosaic Evolutionary Anthropology
This section deals with the concept of Mosaic evolutionary anthropology. The evolutionary changes or transitions that occur can be minimal to major ones. Minimal like the ones where the transition happens just in terms of growth of more hair, or longer nails etc., while the major transitions are the ones where the whole outlook or a major organ is sometimes changed.
Four Levels of Mosaic Evolution
- Baseline evolution
- Novel Taxa
- New Adaptive zones
- Major evolutionary transitions
Baseline Evolution
We have different species of animals, and sometimes, these minor changes make them different from others. Baseline evolution is regarded as the transition that occurs because of the mutation and the genetic changes and the incremental ways in which the species changes by acquiring new traits and adaptations sometimes. According to Darwin, the baseline evolution is a classic gradual transformation. It is the quintessential Darwinian gradualism if there are sudden spots on the beetle’s back or changes in monkeys’ colours regarding the genetic drift. These changes come under the category of baseline evolution of Mosaic evolution.
Novel Taxa
It has to be the phase where a new species is born and a major transition phase. The baseline evolution consists of small transformational changes. The difference between the novel taxa and baseline evolution lies in independent evolutionary trajectories. Cladogenesis is one of the most fundamental reasons biodiversity occurs and aids speciation. The baseline evolution figures these changes, but then other mechanisms are required to facilitate the change in species, like character displacement allopatric or genetic incompatibility. These changes are vital for the long-lasting changes that need to occur in the species for the differentiation and transformation to happen.
New Adaptive Zones
Small changes such as the differences in the beetles’ spots from 2 to 4 can not be claimed as the major transformation. Such is the case with the changes in the race or colour of the animals. There are very few differences between the species or the sister species, and thus we can not call this the major transformation or difference in species. A major transformation can only be achieved if the whole adaptive environment or the natural habitat is changed as these environmental changes boost the difference in the species more prominently. Therefore, it is also regarded as the major step towards evolution or change. It is at this stage major evolution in the ecosystems takes place.
Major Evolutionary Transitions
This change or stage asks for the significant complexities in the evolution from the reproduction step to the information transmission stage. The more the complexity, the more diversified and specialised the species is. These transformation steps are mainly backed by environmental changes, enhancing the lifestyle and accommodating differences and environmental influences.
The primary major transformation occurs when a species that used to reproduce independently now do so in the unit, thus highlighting the transformation and differences. This stage is considered the amalgamation of all the previous stages. The classic example is that ancestors were asexual while the current species are sexual, which is the major reproduction change.
Mosaic evolution and mosaic evolution anthropology study the different stages, but the question that stays compact is where the major change occurs. The mosaic evolution is stemmed a little in every stage, and human evolution, as mentioned before, is one of the significant forms of transformation. The difference between the ancestors and current humans is highlighted through this transition. The main fundamental element for this transition is less biological and more related to the technology and cultural factors. These technology and cultural factors were the main reasons behind mosaic evolution because they got people together in a more cooperative manner and broke the walls of language barriers. As a result, a more stable and culturally mature environment was evolved, which was more regarded as a change for human life and nature.
Humans are most closely related to chimpanzees, and the biological similarity is 98%. Thus, the difference between the two in biological terms is minimal; that is, the reproduction of the biological factors is very similar to some extent. The human species are the world’s leading population. The transformation they went through is still available in the fossils; thus, most of the changes were regarding cultural and technological advancements rather than the ones concerned with biology. Therefore, this evolution is mostly more centred on the behavioural changes and the adaptations relating to this that got us here.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it would be easy to say and proclaim that the mosaic evolution has been through a road of changes in a varied way. There have been several biological and behavioural phenomena that have enhanced this change to a very great extent. The stages of transformation tell us about the swift and slow changes that together contribute to humankind’s evolution or, in great detail, tell us about the mosaic evolutionary anthropology.
