7.1 Steps Leading Up To Charles Darwin's Theory Flashcards
What is a theory?
a set of statements that explains a group of facts or phenomenons
Who was the “father” of evolutionary thought?
Charles Darwin
Darwin developed a theory to explain _____?
-The diversity of Life on Earth
-How all organisms are related to one another
-How all organisms are related to the environments
they live in
What is evolution?
the biological history of life on Earth and the process by which organisms change (evolve) over time
Before Darwin’s time, what were the 2 main ideas of the natural world?
1) Species were fixed, did NOT change over time
(immutable)
2) Earth is less than 10, 000 years old (young) and
relatively unchanging
Who decided that living things had been created in their present forms and were immutable?
Aristotle
(he developed this theory through strongly held religious beliefs)
Who was the first to challenge the belief that the earth was young and supported uniformitarianism?
James Hutton
What is uniformitarianism?
a theory that stated that the Earth was formed entirely by slow-moving processes, such as erosion and
sedimentation, and that these slow forces continue to shape the landscape
What did James Hutton conclude from his findings?
Concluded the Earth took millions of years (not thousands), to form the current landscape.
Who was the “father” of Modern Day Geology?
Charles Lyell
What is geology?
the study of Earth’s physical structure
Who Popularized and expanded on Hutton’s idea of uniformitarianism?
Charles Lyell
What are the principles of uniformitarianism?
1) Earth has been changed by the same processes in the past that are occurring in the present
2) Geological change is slow and gradual
3) Natural laws that influence these changes are constant and eternal, and they operated in the past with the same intensity they do today
Why were Lyell’s ideas radical at the time?
Because his theories directly challenged the belief in a very young Earth
What was James Cuvier?
a paleontologist
What is paleontology?
The study of fossil organisms to learn about prehistoric life
What did Cuvier find?
-Compared fossils of modern day elephants to mammoths
-Concluded that some organisms had become extinct over time (e.g. Mammoths, Dinosaurs)
Where can you find the fossils of very simple organisms?
Fossils of very simple organisms are found in ALL depths of fossil deposits
Where can you find the fossils of complex organisms located?
Fossils of more complex organisms are found only at shallower depths, in younger rock
What are fossils in the shallower depths more likely to resemble?
Fossils in the shallower depths are more likely to resemble living species
True or False: Rock layers contain fossils of many species that do not occur in layers above or below them
True
In only which rock can you find fossils?
sedimentary rock
What did fossil observation help us to discover?
Fossil observation offered strong support that life evolved from simple to complex
What is catastrophism?
a theory that global catastrophes, such as floods, caused the widespread extinctions of species
Who believed that species themselves did not change and that these species were then replaced with another newly created set of species
Cuvier
Who applied scientific methods to the detailed study of anatomy and studied animal structures, considering their functions?
Buffon