Development of Evolutionary Thought

Question 1

Darwin and Wallace

Answer 1

created natural selection theory

Question 2

early views of the world

Answer 2

▪ 16th c. believed organisms were created by God
▪ organisms static/fixed and never changed
▪ fixity of species: once created organisms never change

Question 3

fixity of species

Answer 3

once organisms were created never change during their lifetimes

Question 4

what were fossils considered?

Answer 4

remains of dead organisms and not extinct beings with no living representative

Question 5

The Great Chain of Being/Scala Naturae (Aristotle)

Answer 5

belief that living things were independently created by God and arranged in a hierarchy (groupings based on physical similarities)

Question 6

grand design

Answer 6

God’s design for the universe

Question 7

argument from design

Answer 7

all anatomical structures of all organisms were designed to meet the purpose for which they were intended

Question 8

Recent age of the Earth

Answer 8

James Ussher (1581-1656): tracing genealogies back to 4004 BC

Question 9

heliocentrism

Answer 9

Copernicus (1514) claimed that the planets revolved around the sun instead of the Earth

Question 10

universe of motion

Answer 10

Galileo (1600s) came up with the idea that the universe was dynamic and changing

Question 11

John Ray (1627-1705)

Answer 11

▪ father of natural history

▪ species - reproductive isolation

Question 12

total morphological approach (JR)

Answer 12

looking at the whole organism

Question 13

genus (JR)

Answer 13

grouping of different species based on shared similarities

Question 14

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Answer 14

father of taxonomy

Question 15

taxonomy (CL)

Answer 15

science of naming and classifying organisms

Question 16

binomial nomenclature (CL)

Answer 16

system for naming and classifying organisms

ex. rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina -> rosa canina (binomen)

Question 17

class and order (CL)

Answer 17

class = Mammalia
order = Primates

ex. Homo sapiens
(Linnaeus 1758 included in classification of animal kingdom)

Question 18

Nicholas Steno (1638-1686)

Answer 18

▪ father of stratigraphy
▪ strata: layers of rock
▪ stratigraphy: study of how rock/rock layers form

Question 19

principle of original horizontality (NS)

Answer 19

rock layers form horizontally

▪ any change is due to disturbance (ex. tectonic activity)

Question 20

law of superposition (NS)

Answer 20

▪ older rock is lower down

▪ younger rock is higher up in a sequence

Question 21

James Hutton (1726-1797)

Answer 21

▪ geologist
▪ created deep time
▪ claimed that rock formation, tectonics, and erosion are processes that take time

Question 22

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

Answer 22

▪ claimed that life started in the oceans
▪ all species come from a common ancestor
▪ proposed ideas: deep time, competition for resources, influence of environment

Question 23

Comte de Buffon (1707-1788)

Answer 23

▪ common ancestry shared by humans and apes
▪ natural history: dynamic science
▪ “organic particles”: environment acts directly on organisms
▪ proposed earth was 75,000 years old
▪ deep time!
▪ revision of species definition: fertility
▪ accommodation: physical and cultural differences between humans result of differing environments
▪ organisms would change do to adaptation

Question 24

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)

Answer 24

▪ came up with the term biology and entomology
▪ invertebrate
▪ first to explain process of evolutions
▪ Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics (Use/Disuse)
▪ right about adaptive change wrong about how traits were inherited (no genetic bases)

Question 25

Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics (Use/Disuse)

Answer 25

▪ physical characteristics acquired during an individual’s lifetime were inherited by the offspring
▪ Life force fluids → change → heritable → perfection!

Question 26

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)

Answer 26

▪ Father of Vertebrate Paleontology
▪ extinction
▪ catastrophism
▪ repopulation by more modern organisms

Question 27

catastrophism

Answer 27

explanation for extinction + Earth’s landscape was the result of catastrophic events

Question 28

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

Answer 28

▪ Father of Geology
▪ uniformitarianism
▪ supported deeptime

Question 29

uniformitarianism

Answer 29

constancy and gradualism in natural processes over long periods of time
▪ wind and water erosion
▪ earthquakes
▪ floods
▪ glacial movement and frost

Question 30

3 factors of uniformitarianism

Answer 30

1) created landscapes
2) are ongoing and consistent (uniform) over time
3) take a very long time to occur

Question 31

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

Answer 31

▪ competition for resources
▪ pop size increases exponentially while food supply increases arithmetically
▪ resource availability keeps pop growth in check

Question 32

Fundamentals of Natural Selection

Answer 32

▪ species can produce offspring at a faster rate than food supplies increase (Malthus).
▪ biological variation
▪ more individuals are produced than can survive every gen
▪ favorable traits or variations are more likely to survive and produce offspring
▪ environmental context determines whether a trait is beneficial
▪ traits are inherited and passed on to next gen
▪ later generations may be distinct from ancestral ones bc variations accumulate over time
▪ pops may become distinct species, descended from a common ancestor as they respond to pressures over time

Question 33

Natural Selection

Answer 33

organisms with the most favorable traits survive and reproduce

▪ trait must be inherited if natural selection is to act on it
▪ cannot occur without pop variation in inherited characteristics
▪ can only act on traits that affect reproduction

Question 34

Fitness

Answer 34

relative measure that changes as the environment changes

Question 35

Reproductive success

Answer 35

number of offspring an individual produces and rears to reproductive age

Question 36

Selective pressures

Answer 36

forces in the environment that influence reproductive success in individuals