Evolution Chapter 8.1 Flashcards
Who is Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon?
- Challenged that life forms are unchanging
- Earth was 6000 years old
- Noticed similarities between humans and apes, common ancestor
- Suggested species change over time
What is paleontology?
Scientific study of ancient life through fossils
Who is Mary Anning?
- British fossil collector
- Discovered first plesiosaurus
Who is George Covier?
- Proposed idea of catastrophism
- Noticed distinct differences between rock strata (layers)
The deeper the strata, the more dissimilar the species are from modern life - Had evidence of extinction and species formation
What is catastrophism?
Natural catastrophes periodically destroyed the species living in the area, allowing species from neighbouring areas to populate the area
Who is James Hutton?
- Earth being continually, gradually reformed by processes of sedimentation and erosion
Who is Charles Lyell?
- Rejected castrophism
- Proposed uniformitarianism
- Earth more than 6000 years old
- Influenced by Hutton
What is uniformitarianism?
- Same geological processes in past as today at same rates
- Substantial changes over a long term
Who proposed the idea of catastrophism?
Georges Covier
Who rejected the idea of catastrophism? What did he propose instead?
Charles Lyell proposed uniformitarianism
Who is Jean-Baptiste Lamarck?
- Species change over time
- Individuals can change characteristics over lifetime
- “Line of descent” - increasing complexity of a species from old to recent
- The idea of use and disuse (body parts not used will disappear)
What is inheritance of acquired characteristics?
The characteristics acquired during the organism lifetime can be passed down to their offspring
Who is Charles Darwin?
- Boarded HMS Beagle on a 5 year voyage around the world
- Spent time in South America and Galapagos Islands
- Developed theory of evolution by natural selection
What are five of Darwin’s observations?
- Fossils of extinct animals looked similar to living animals
- Animals Darwin saw in the Galapagos Islands closely resembled animals in the west coast of South America
- Species in the Galapagos Islands varied between islands and had different adaptations for each island
- Through his knowledge of artificial selection, he knew traits could be passed down to generations and that sexual reproduction resulted in variation within a species
- The same animal in a continent can be structurally different in another continent
What is evolution?
Process of genetic change in a population over time
