Critical analysis on an - Article Example

Section/# Directional Evolution: An Analysis of “Pollinator Shifts Drive Increasingly Long Nectar Spurs In Columbine Flowers”The main thrust and focus of the article is seeking to provide a scientific assessment of punctuated evolution as described by Darwinian Theory. Although Darwinian Theory adequately explains the way in which pollinator shifts drive long nectar spurs, it is a topic that has not been definitely measured or objectively researched to a great degree. As a function of this, the authors set about to draw a further level of inference onto the topic.

As a function of performing this research, the authors draw upon a rigid set of data points that seeks to measure and understand the unique correlation between evolution in one species and adaptation in another. Though this type of research is not new by any stretch of the imagination, the rigor and thorough nature of the datasets and graphs that the authors present help to engender a degree of well reasoned argument with which the reader can both understand as well as identify with. Although the weakness of the approach are not specifically enumerated upon, the authors begin the piece by discussing the ways in which the study of directional evolution risks over-simplifying the subject matter and ultimately reducing the research question to a form of “what came first the chicken or the egg”.

As a means of addressing such a threat, the piece seeks to lay out a firm and rigid framework of analysis which does not allow any form of broad generalizations on the subject matter (Whittall et al 706). As far as influencing the views of this particular student and providing a bigger picture conclusions, it can be definitively stated that the results that the piece has proven leave little if any doubt in the mind with regards to the clear and inarguable nature of directional evolution and the means through which it occurs.

As a function of the bigger picture, this can be understood to re-affirm Darwin’s original theory and helps to shed a further light on the ways in which individual species evolve, grow, and develop over time. Work CitedWhittall, Justen B., and Scott A. Hodges. "Pollinator Shifts Drive Increasingly Long Nectar Spurs In Columbine Flowers." Nature 447.7145 (2007): 706-709. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2013.