5 Flashcards
The idea of biological evolution was long in coming. Explain.
Who was Aristotle?
A Greek Naturalist and great thinker for made keen observations about the world around him. To him nature was organized in a continuous fashion from lifeless matter through complex life forms.
What is the scale of nature
Essentially, each life form or species was a separate link in this chain with the “ lowest” life forms at the beginning of the chain extending onward to humans.
What is the biogeography? What questions were raised concerning this dicisplin?
A discipline in which the world distribution of plants and animals is studied. The question it raised is “ How did so many species get from the “ center of creation” to islands and other isolated places?
What is comparative anatomy? What questions were raised in this disipline?
comparisons of the similarities and differences in the body plans of various groups ( mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish) are made. Raises many questions about how organisms were made and their body parts and how they don’t have a function. ( ex appendix)
What are fossils and how did fossil evidence confuse the issue of evolution?
Fossils are physical evidence of organisms that have lived in the past. It confused the issue of evolution because perhaps species became modified overtime.
What is catastrophism? What is associated with this idea?
a geological theory that proposes Earth’s features were primarily shaped by sudden, violent, and short-lived events like massive floods or asteroid impacts, causing significant changes to the landscape and often leading to mass extinctions; this idea is most strongly associated with the French scientist Georges Cuvier, who used fossil evidence to support the theory of catastrophic events shaping Earth’s history.
What is gradualism?
the idea that slow but continues processes can eventually add up to big changes. James Hutton.
What is uniformitarianism?
refers to Charles lylells idea that geologic processes occurring today are the same processes that occurred in the past, and that these processes happen at the same uniform rate.
What is the theory of acquired characteristics? Who is associated with this theory?
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, If an organism changes during life in order to adapt to its environment, those changes are passed on to its offspring. ( ex. the giraffes growing their necks)
How do the prevailing beliefs of society influence the interpretation of natural porcesses?
Pre Darwinian: believed the earth was relatively new, species dont changes and the number of species remains constant, adaptation to the environment of the work of a creator. Observations are supposed to support the prevailing world view.
Post Darwinian: The earth is relatively old, species are related by dedendents, adaptation to the environment involves the interplay of random genetic variations and environmental conditions. Observation and experimentation are used to test hypotheses about evolution.
Who was Charles Darwin and what was his background?
Set out as a naturalist on a ship. Darwin grew up in a family of doctors and he didn’t care for schooling. Charles dropped out of medical school and instead went to divinity school to try and become a clergy.
