Education
Vrba earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology and Palaeontology at the University of Cape Town, in 1974.
paleontologist university professor Zoologist
Vrba earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology and Palaeontology at the University of Cape Town, in 1974.
Her specific interest is in the Family Bovidae (antelopes, etc), but her current graduate students are studying a wide range of species. She has been a faculty member at the Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, since the early 1980s. She is renowned as both a researcher and a teacher.
Her teaching practises and personality were written about by a student named Roberto Rozzi.
Stemming from Charles Darwin"s research on genetic traits developed during adaptation in evolution, Vrba and Gould"s research suggested that the historical origin of a genetic trait is not always reflective of its contemporary function. Genetic adaptations may take on new functions and may serve a species a different purpose further on in evolution.
Gould passed away in 2002 but their theory has been wide referenced in recent years in popular science writing on mammalian evolution, metabolic bases of evolution and evolutionary deoxyribonucleic acid change, as well as guitar playing. Vrba and Gould"s theory has also been criticized in recent years by scholars who assert that genetic traits are pressured by multiple factors, making it challenging to determine when adaptation or exaptation is at play.
Vrba also constructed the Turnover-pulse Hypothesis, which is a significant addition to Macroevolution theory.
This hypothesis tracks the rate that species adapt and survive. This is important because it explains how different animals within a species evolve at different rates.