Physical Science and Biological Coevolution

The physical world, analyzed in physics, chemistry, and geology, influences human evolution only indirectly, through processes of coevolution. Yet knowledge of physical sciences provides important information on human history, for instance through methods of dating. The chapter surveys the overlapping fields of physics and chemistry, for which theories analyze dependable processes at multiple scales. Examples in physics and chemistry show dating the age of the Earth and dating through radiocarbon analysis. Geology, however, is a historical science, as its processes must be identified in terms of time. Through analysis of remaining sediments, geologists have been able to describe changes in temperature and humidity over Earth’s long history, as shown for ice cores. Environmental interactions are now studied across multiple disciplines, documenting the movement of energy through living communities, the development of ecosystems, and changes in biodiversity—an example addresses coevolution and the survival of species (145).