AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -“Punctuated equilibrium is the idea that evolution occurs in spurts instead of following the slow, but steady path that Darwin suggested. Long periods of stasis with little activity in terms of extinctions or emergence of new species are interrupted by intermittent bursts of activity.”

Detailed explanation-2: -Punctuated equilibrium is a pattern of evolution in which long stable periods are interrupted by brief periods of more rapid change.

Detailed explanation-3: -A pattern in which species experience long, stable periods interrupted by brief periods of rapid evolutionary change is called punctuated equilibrium.

Detailed explanation-4: -When significant evolutionary change occurs, the theory proposes that it is generally restricted to rare and geologically rapid events of branching speciation called cladogenesis.

Detailed explanation-5: -However, punctuated equilibrium is any sudden, rapid change in a species and can also be the result of other causes, such as huge and sudden changes in the environment that result in more rapid changes in the organisms through harsher selection.