From Natural Philosophy to Darwin: History Flashcards
Compare and contrast the following three views of nature: the Great Chain of Being (Scala Naturae), Natural Theology, and Evolution by Natural Selection.
The great chain of being or the Scala Naturae was first introduced by greek philosophers, namely Aristotle. This classified species on a scale from lower to higher, with plants being the lowest form of life, only having the capacity to grow. Animals occupied a higher position on the chain because, in addition to growth, they also had the ability to move. Humans were situated even higher because of their powers of reason.
William Paley proposed that the mechanical complexity of animal organs provided evidence for the existence of a Divine Creator.
Explain the contributions of James Hutton
James Hutton envisioned a world with a deep history shaped by gradual transformations of landscapes through imperceptibly slow changes.
Explain the contributions of Georges Cuvier
When the French naturalist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) compared the elephant fossils to the skeletons of living elephants from Africa and India, he discovered that some of the fossils were distinct from living elephants in crucial ways, such as the shapes of their teeth. These fossil animals, which he called mammoths and mastodons, were species that no longer existed. They had, in other words, become extinct.
Explain the contributions of William Smith
The first geological map of fossils and rock layers was developed by William Smith, an English geologist and land surveyor.
Explain the contributions of Jean-Baptiste Lamark.
Lamarck eventually concluded that the diversity of life he saw around him was the product of evolution.
Although Lamarck was one of the first naturalists to offer a detailed theory of evolution, his theory differed from the modern conception of evolution in some important ways.
- Ideas Still Rooted in the Scala Naturae: Lamarck argued that life was driven inexorably from simplicity to complexity and that humans and other large species descended from microbes.
- Use and Disuse: Lamarck also believed that animals and plants could adapt to their environment. If an animal began to use an organ more than its ancestors had, the organ would change during its lifetime. Lamarck argued that if a giraffe repeatedly stretched its neck for leaves high up on trees, for example, it would cause a “nervous fluid” to flow into its neck, making it grow longer.
- Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics: Lamarck claimed that these changes could be passed down from an animal to its offspring. A giraffe could inherit a longer neck; if the offspring continued stretching for leaves, it would pass on an even longer neck to its descendants.
Explain the contributions of Carolus Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus (1707–78) devised the binomial system of nomenclature in which every organism has a double name consisting of a Latinized generic name (genus) and a specific adjective (species). There was no problem in Linnaeus’ day in defining species because it was believed that each species was derived from the original pair of animals created by God. Since species had been created in this way, they were fixed and unchanging.
Explain why homologous traits are central to the concepts of common descent, shared ancestry, descent with modification, and the tree of life.
The Darwin-Wallace notion of common descent due to shared ancestry makes sense of patterns in nature. These patterns provide countless examples of descent with midification due to adaptation by natural selection.
Darwin’s case for descent with modification was strengthened by the fact that many homologies are found together in the same groups of species. Bats, humans, and seals don’t just share limbs, for example. They also have hair, and the females of each species secrete milk to nurture their young. Linnaeus had used these traits to classify humans, bats, and seals as members of the same category: all three species are mammals.
Compare and contrast homologous and analogous traits.
Homology refers to the similartiy of characteristics resulting from shared ancestry, while an analogous trait is the similarity of a characteristic that is the result of similar selective pressures from similar environments or biomes. Both homologies and analogous triates show similarities between organisms, but the distinction is whether the similarity is due to a shared ancestral lineage or shared environmental patterns.
The “Great Chain of Being,” as originally developed by
the ancient Greeks, was adapted by many scholars in
the 1600s to 1700s and came to be known as
A. paleontology
B. natural theology
C. comparative anatomy
D. creationism
B. Natural Theology
The “Great Chain of Being,” as originally developed by
the ancient Greeks, was adapted by many scholars in
the 1600s to 1700s and came to be known as
A. paleontology
B. natural theology
C. comparative anatomy
D. creationism
B. Natural Theology
Linnaeus
A. accepted evolutionary change but rejected
creationism.
B. rejected evolutionary change but accepted
creationism.
C. accepted both evolutionary change and creationism.
D. rejected both evolutionary change and creationism.
B. Rejected evolutionary change but accepted creationism.
Linnaeus
A. accepted evolutionary change but rejected
creationism.
B. rejected evolutionary change but accepted
creationism.
C. accepted both evolutionary change and creationism.
D. rejected both evolutionary change and creationism.
B. Rejected evolutionary change but accepted creationism.
The main idea from Hutton’s work is that
A. the natural landscape of Earth has changed very little
since Earth was formed.
B. fossils found in one type of rock in one location will
be found in the same rock unit at another location.
C. extinction events are caused primarily by volcanoes
and floods.
D. Earth has been a geologically active planet for a very
long time.
D. Earth has been a geologically active planet for a very long time.
Lamarck’s arguments included
A. ideas on mutations as the source of variations in
populations.
B. the idea that evolution drives living things from
simple to complex.
C. detailed explanations for extinction events.
D. outright rejection of evolutionary change.
B. The idea that evolution drives living things from simple to complex.
Which of these statements is correct?
A. The wings of batsand birds are homologous.
B. The front limbs (bones) of batsand birds are homologous.
C. The wings of insectsand birds are homologous.
D. The front limbs of insectsand birds are homologous.
B. The front limbs (bones) of batsand birds are homologous.
