The terms microevolution and macroevolution were created, in 1940, by Richard Goldschmidt, with the main objective of differentiating the neo-Darwinist mechanisms, which were capable of causing a difference among species, from those that originated other taxonomic groups, such as genera, families, orders, classes and phyla.
THE microevolution it's fromdefined as a set of changes that occur within a population. Therefore, it can be considered as a small-scale evolution, in which there is a change in the gene frequency of a given group of individuals of a species.
THE macroevolution, in turn, is related to such large changes that affect the rate higher, above the species level. Typically, these changes occur abruptly. Unlike microevolution, macroevolution is related to a long time scale.
Microevolution occurs due to basic evolutionary mechanisms such as mutation, recombination, migration, genetic drift and natural selection. These processes directly affect the gene frequency of a given population and can, therefore, decrease or increase the frequency of a gene. A clear example of microevolution by natural selection is the
resistance that some bacteria, such as KPC, feature over a wide range of antibiotics.Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
There is a heated discussion about micro and macroevolution, and there is still no consensus on how the rate superiors. Some researchers suggest that macroevolutions are the result of microevolutionary events. However, others claim that it is impossible to understand macroevolution based solely on microevolutionary inferences.
As such, this issue is still a challenge for evolutionary biology.
By Ma. Vanessa dos Santos
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SANTOS, Vanessa Sardinha dos. "Microevolution"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biologia/microevolucao.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2021.
