Evolutionary Thought

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

Broadly defined as any instance of change over time. More specifically, in a biological context, it is the process of descent with modification that is responsible for the origin, maintenance, and diversity of life

Question 2

Artificial Selection

Answer 2

The process of human-directed selective breeding aimed at producing a desired set of traits in the selected species

Question 3

Anthropogenic Selection

Answer 3

Human-selected traits for an organism

Question 4

Empirical Approach

Answer 4

Using morphological data (making observations)

Question 5

Theoretical Approach

Answer 5

Use modeling to predict what we’d see (is it true?)

Question 6

How did ideas change over time?

Answer 6

Anaximsander: natural explanation instead of celestial (thought Earth was a disc), stars were fire and the sun & moon rotate around the sun
Empedocles: plants came before animals and environment/planet has changed over time
Erasmus Darwin: struggle for existence, change during lifetime, but had no mechanism for evidence
William Paley: intentional design so that organisms suited to environment, supernatural mechanism
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck: complex species descend from less complex ones, change via use or disuse or increase complexity, 1ST CLEAR MECHANISM (but wrong)
Patrick Matthew: resources limited, organisms vary; change over time; obscure mechanism; life not related (not correct)
Charles Lyell: proposed uniformitarianism (rocks and land formed by catastrophic events); change over time applied to geology
Robert Chambers: populations slowly change over time; individuals do not change; NO MECHANISM
Charles Darwin: Natural selection as a mechanism for evolutionary change; Life is related by common ancestry (LUCA)

Question 7

What data can be used to study evolution?

Answer 7

-Fossil records
-Observation study
-Morphology
-Behavior
-DNA Sequence (Genetics)
-Development

Question 8

How have humans applied evolutionary ideas to their benefit?

Answer 8

Artificial Selection; fatter animals

Question 9

What did Charles Darwin study? Where did he study it? What evidence did he have?

Answer 9

Charles Darwin used an empirical approach where he collected fossils during expedition. Extinct species related to those of today and it showed evidence of evolution. The finch’s were morphological similar but had different behaviors which had a perplexing similarity to mainland birds.
-Some evidence he had was artificial selection where he bred different birds to have a specific trait be exaggerated such as more feathers and/or bigger chest