Niles Eldredge Quotes

Don't walk one step ahead of her with your head down.

Niles Eldredge

• Down
• Step
• Ahead

There is presumably an upper limit to the carrying capacity of humans on earth—of the numbers that agriculture can support—and that number is usually estimated at between 13-15 billion, though some people think the ultimate numbers might be much higher.

Niles Eldredge

• Earth
• Humans
• Limit

At the core of punctuated equilibria lies an empirical observation: once evolved, species tend to remain remarkably stable, recognizable entities for millions of years. The observation is by no means new, nearly every paleontologist who reviewed Darwin's Origin of Species pointed to his evasion of this salient feature of the fossil record.

Niles Eldredge

• Observation
• Species
• Equilibrium

Darwin's prediction of rampant, albeit gradual, change affecting all lineages through time is refuted. The record is there, and the record speaks for tremendous anatomical conservatism. Change in the manner Darwin expected is just not found in the fossil record.

Niles Eldredge

• Expected
• Darwin
• Prediction