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politics, history and humanities uses this sense of the word evolved - as an improcement - more than biology does –  shigeta Dec 7 '13 at 15:57
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up vote 21 down vote accepted

"More evolved" is actually meaningless in all contexts. See terdon's answer for a good explanation.

In the strictest sense, an organism can be said to be more divergent than another when comparing both to an outgroup, such that there is an inferred most common ancestor in reference to which to make the comparison. In this case, one organism is more divergent if there are more changes to this organism than the other, relative to the reference point.

However, when speaking, many people get lazy, and use "more evolved" as shorthand, wishing it to mean something like "more divergent". Even "more divergent" is meaningless in the following contexts:

  • when there is no outgroup understood

Edited 2013/12/06 to reflect the precision in the answer by terdon.

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Can you suggest sources about evolutionary comparative methods? –  Pristine Kavalostka Apr 23 '12 at 4:43
I disagree, your definition refers to more diverged evolved is not qualitative. You cannot be more or less evolved unless you are actually comparing generation numbers. –  terdon Jun 2 '13 at 17:00
Strongly agree/like this statement. Would also like to add: please emphasize teaching your students that evolution is not something that is worked towards, so much as naturally selected. I think heavy, heavy emphasis on natural selection is what you should explain, until your students demonstrate that they understand things "evolve" simply because they survive, and they survive if they are fit. –  HC_ Dec 10 '13 at 21:11
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There is no such thing as more or less evolved. At least not outside popular media. The only reasonable comparison one can make is comparing generation numbers. You could say that a species that has undergone X generations is less evolved than one that has undergone X*2 generations. It just doesn't mean much.

Evolved is not a qualitative term, you cannot really be more or less evolved than something else. Thomas Ingalls' answer is reasonable enough but describes divergence not evolution.

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It is a phrase in common parlance without scientific meaning, fitting in the same category as devolved or devolution. It is as @terdon said:

There is no such thing as more or less evolved.

In a scientific context you should always find the evolutionary measure in question and the methods for quantifying that measure.

In a biological context the phrase would fail to find meaning, when evolution is a function of fitness. In such context fitness is inevitably tied to environmental parameters. The more complex these parameters, the more niches may be available for potential species, with temperature being one of the strongest factors (See: Effective evolutionary time Hypothesis ). Take this assertion with the necessary caution, as it is far outside my expertise.

Mostly I have come across the phrase more evolved in reference to large, tangible species, and also in science fiction.

Tell your student, to always be aware that in the end the unicellular species make life for us on this planet viable - we coevolved. But they also eventually consume/recycle us in one way or another, and surely will outlast us. It takes extreme effort and finesse for a large, energetic multicellular host to obtain, maintain and retain its niche on this planet. In all of the field of molecular biology there is nothing quite like Immunology.

For a mind experiment, let the student imagine soil with different pH, of the same plant species which equal seeding-times.

The outcome may be something as shown below. The phrase "more evolved" clearly fails to describe such a scenario of one generation of plant species, and hence is not suitable in an objective description of evolution.

Sidenote: Al3+-ions are toxic to plants, stuning root growth and phosphate intake. With increased pH, more aluminum dissolves. enter image description here

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