In punctuated equilibrium, change comes in spurts. ... 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.

Why was the hypothesis of punctuated equilibrium proposed?

An addition to the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution proposed by paleontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge in 1972, punctuated equilibrium is intended to explain the lack of intermediate steps in fossil records.

What is the concept of punctuated equilibrium?

: evolution that is characterized by long periods of stability in the characteristics of an organism and short periods of rapid change during which new forms appear especially from small subpopulations of the ancestral form in restricted parts of its geographic range also : a theory or model of evolution emphasizing ...