EvoWiki/Best of EvoWiki

This is a reference page. It contains pure source material rather than an article. As such, please refrain from editing what is preserved here, except to make corrections. We have more of these out back. EvoWiki is now a project of the RMF. Article originally here.

Introduction

Link your favorite high-quality, well-developed EvoWiki pages here, for the good of the readers and to inspire the writers. Link and brief descriptions, please.

For automated lists that may help you find the best EvoWiki pages, see:

• [[Special:LongPages|Long pages]]
• [[Special:Popularpages|Popular pages]]

In Goals and possible uses of EvoWiki we suggesting a few different types of EvoWiki article. As EvoWiki has developed we've seen articles fall neatly into these groups:

Encyclopedia / Textbook type articles. These provide a good introduction to their subject and you should need little prior knowledge of the subject to read them. Any specialist terms used are either explained in the article or linked to a glossary page (see below). These may then go on to explain the subject in greater detail, and then link to relevant technical articles (see below).

Technical articles explore a specific idea, process, species etc in much greater detail than encyclopedia articles, and the reader will probably need to at least read a few relevant encyclopedia articles first, and good technical articles should suggest the relevant encyclopedia articles in a prologue or the introduction. Technical terms should still be linked to glossary pages.

Glossary pages are simply short explanations of terms, and some could potentially grow into encylopedia entries. These should always give a definition that laymen can understand, but may also go into greater technical detail.

Best of EvoWiki

Encyclopedia articles

• Theory of Evolution -- Introduces the ToE, without being too technical, and then refers readers to unabridged articles on each important part of the theory.

• Flagella -- By [[User:Oplopanax|oplo]], introduces the different kinds of flagella and links to information on the evolution of flagella. See also The short version of the different kinds of microbial sticky-outy-bits used for swimming, an example of a short article with a very specific purpose.

• Suboptimal design -- Authored by many contributors, this is a long and growing list of obviously suboptimal "designs" found in biology. A good example of a list article.

• Nitrogen fixation -- Still in development but has reached a decent first draft form. Includes a brief introduction to the "IC" system of nitrogen fixation, a summary of what is known about its evolution, and a list of peer-reviewed references on the topic of nitrogen fixation. Build out of material posted first on an IIEC thread, and a great example of how to give useful UBB postings a longer life and much more educational utility.

• Archaeopteryx -- Another by [[User:VindexUrvogel(JGK)|JGK]], a review of the science, history, and significance of the urvogel.

Technical articles

• Avian phylogeny and origins -- By [[User:VindexUrvogel(JGK)|JGK]], an extensive overview of the history of the study of bird origins, the establishment of the "Birds are descended from dinosaurs" view, and a critical review of the arguments of the remaining holdouts for a non-dinosaurian, thecodont origin of birds. Incredibly thorough linking of scientific terms (like urvogel, proterosuchids, and heterocoelus) make it understandable to nonexperts.

• add your own picks!