----- Original Message -----
From: "Robt Mann" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002 12:19 AM
Subject: Re: Occam's Razor

>         It is helpful to begin by making clear what the term 'evolution'
> means: the appearance of new life-forms  -  new species and bigger
> categories genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom  -  over time...

At its most basic level, organic evolution refers merely to changes in gene
frequencies in populations of organisms. When we see a population of varroa
mite becoming resistant to fluvalinate, this is evolution. Given enough time
and other necessary circumstances (e.g., spatial isolation from other
populations), changes in gene frequencies in a population can lead to
speciation, "the appearance of new life-forms."


Tom Culliney, Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, 1428
South King St., Honolulu, HI 96814 U.S.A.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: 808-973-9528
Fax: 808-973-9533

"To a rough approximation and setting aside vertebrate chauvinism, it can be
said that essentially all organisms are insects."--R.M. May (1988)