1. introduction to evolutionary biology Flashcards
what was Aristotles belief about life
life was “spontaneously generated” and arises out of nothing
how did Francesco Redi investigate Aristotles belief
compared covered and uncovered meat, flies and maggots covered the meat which was left uncovered
suggests life does not spontaneously arise but comes from existing life
What links Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
both hypothesised about evolution, creating journals about their theories, Darwin was able to publish his ‘origin of species’ before Wallaces journal, giving Darwin all the credit for the theory
fill in the blanks:
a key part of evolution is _______. This is _______ so that offspring resemble their parents. There is ________ between species as the environment can only sustain a certain number before carrying capacity is met. Consequently there is ________, individuals either live or die based on how able they are adapt.
1) variation
2) heritable
3) competition
4) selection
describe Darwins travels
- travelled around the world on HMS beagle
- identifying species and documenting them
- travels brought him to the Galapagos islands where Darwin studied his finches
explain the finches living on the Galapagos islands
- the volcanic islands had emerged and the finches inhabited the different islands
- an example of adaptive radiation- new opportunities of new habitats- the finches inhabited all the islands- each with varying food sources
- the finches beaks adapted specifically to the food source allowing them to survive
what did Carl Linnaeus discover
the binomial naming system (genus + species)
how did Carl Linnaeus classify species
based on traits or features
what popular belief did Charles Lyell disprove
the fact that the earth was not thousands of years old but actually millions of years old and that evolution had occurred over this extended time frame
explain Thomas Malthus’ views
more offspring are produced than can survive= overpopulation
what problems did Darwin encounter
the church was very powerful and people strongly believed in the creation story, Darwin was worried how his ideas would be perceived
who publicly defended Darwins ideas
Thomas Huxley
what were some of the issues of Darwins theory
Darwin knew nothing about heritability- he knew that offspring would look like their parents but he didnt understand how this worked
what was Neo-Darwinism
occurred after Darwins, once more was discovered about mechanisms ie genetics
describe Gregor Mendels work
an austrian monk who discovered that traits were heritable, named the father of Genetics although most of his work went unnoticed as he published them in obscure journals
