Whats the difference between gradualism and punctuated equilibrium?
Gradualism is the theory of slowly accumulating change, mediated by natural selection, as the mechanism of evolution. Punctuated equilibrium was proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge as a “radical” alternative to gradualism, but in reality the two are the same process operating on different timescales. See Other Types of Selection, ch.9 of Richard Dawkins’ The Blind Watchmaker, Talk.Origins – Punctuated Equilibria.
