How does the study of fossils support evolution? Explain.

OR

What does Hardy-Weinberg Principle of equilibrium indicate? List any two factors that could alter the equilibrium. What would such an alteration lead to?

Fossils are remains of past living organisms like plants, animals or other living organisms. They are hard parts of living organisms like bones. They are buried deep in the rocks, like sedimentary rocks and are preserved in the nature. Fossils are the impressions of dead organisms.

Fossil study shows some of the past organisms are similar to modern organisms whereas some represent extinct organisms. Fossil study is very helpful to reveal a lot of information about past. Fossil study also shows the environment of the past organisms, their interactions with the other organisms of that era, their relationship with the other organisms of that era (like whether they are ancestors or descendants). The study of fossils in different sedimentary layers helps us to find the geological period in which they existed i.e., provide paleontological evidence.

Fossil study also shows the changes that various species of organisms have gone through.

The study of fossils is known as Paleontology. Fossils are important evidence for evolution as they reveal that life on earth now is different from life of earth in past.

OR

Hardy-Weinberg principle stated that in a given population the frequency of occurrence of alleles of a gene is supposed to remain fixed and same through generations.

So according to Hardy-Weinberg Principle of equilibrium the allele frequencies are stable and constant from generation to generation. It also indicates that the gene pool (total genes and their alleles in a population) remains constant. This is called genetic equilibrium. And the sum total of all allelic frequencies is one.

He represented it using algebraic equation (p+q)² = p² + 2pq + q² = 1, where p and q are individual frequencies of two different types of alleles.

Five factors are known to affect Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. These are gene migration or gene flow, genetic drift, mutation, genetic recombination and natural selection.

Such type of alteration will lead to evolution, i.e., new species is evolved, since alteration leads to variations at the genetic level, hence evolution.