4 Darwinism Alternatives Flashcards
Model for explaining the history and diversity of life
Darwinian Theory
- Organisms living
today are different
from those that
lived in the past.
- Organisms change
over time. - All organisms branch from a
common ancestor.
- Any pair of organisms has a
common ancestor
- Similar organisms are similar
because they share traits with
their common ancestor - Change is gradual and slow,
taking place over a long time.
- Supported by the fossil record
- No naturalist has observed the
sudden appearance of a new
species
- The main mechanism of
evolutionary change
is natural selection
- Undirected or random
processes favour certain
heritable characters
Darwin’s Theory
Two models of interpreting evolutionary patterns:
- Populations evolve differences gradually as they
become adapted to their local environments - Presence of transition forms in the fossil record
Gradualist model
Two models of interpreting evolutionary patterns:
- Populations that undergo long periods of equilibrium where little
change takes place, punctuated by short periods of rapid change - May account for the lack of transitional stages in fossil records
Punctuated equilibrium model
The recipe of life is…
Raw materials + suitable environment + energy sources
The possible composition of earth’s early atmosphere…
H2O vapor and compounds released from volcanic eruptions, including N2 and its oxides, CO2, CH4, NH3, H2 and H2S
primitive Earth favoured chemical reactions that synthesized organic compounds from inorganic precursors. “prebiotic soup”
A. Oparin’s and J. B. S. Haldane’s
hypothesis
________ were able to
form simple amino acids from
their laboratory setup
S. Miller & H. Urey
__________ produced no amino acids using correct compounds. All other attempts have failed.
J. P. Ferris and C. T. Chen
The __________ is defined by major transitions in life on Earth.
geologic record
The _________ the main events in the history of life
Fossil Record Documents
a group of organisms forms new
species, whose adaptations allow them to fill new habitats or roles in their communities
Adaptive radiation
A rebound in diversity follows ___________ as survivors become adapted to vacant ecological niches
mass extinctions
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- accept Genesis literally, including not just the special, separate creation of human beings and all other species, but the historicity of Noah’s Flood
- do not interpret the flat-earth and
geocentric passages of the Bible
literally, but they reject modern physics, chemistry, and geology concerning the age of the earth.
Young Earth Creationists
Different Reactions to Evolution:
- each of the six days of creation is not a
24-h day but a long period of time, even
thousands or millions of years - found comfort in what they regard as a
rough parallel between organic evolution
and Genesis, in which plants appear
before animals and human beings
appear last
Day-Age Theorists
