History of Evolution

Question 1

What is the ‘Great Chain of Being’ and who discovered it

Answer 1

• a hierarchical model of the universe that ranks all matter and life in order of importance
• inanimate –> plants –> lower animals –> humans
• discovered by Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Question 2

How old did Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) calculate the Earth was

Answer 2

6028 years

Question 3

What did Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) do

Answer 3

• classified organisms by their structure
• developed naming system
• Genus species (italics)

Question 4

What are the different groups that Linnaeus created to classify organisms

Answer 4

1. domain
2. kingdom
3. phylum
4. class
5. order
6. family
7. genus
8. species

Question 5

What did Nicolaus Steno (1638-86) propose the idea of

Answer 5

• that teeth (and bone) gradually transformed into stones
• leading to more studies of organs between species

Question 6

What did Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829) discover

Answer 6

• species evolve through natural processes
• organisms arise by spontaneous generation
• adaptation occurred through inheritance of
  acquired changes

Question 7

Where did Darwin study finches

Answer 7

Galapagos islands

Question 8

What are the 3 steps in evolution by natural selection

Answer 8

1. Individual variations within a population
   - morphology, physiology, behaviour
2. Variation is heritable
3. Some forms are more successful at surviving and reproducing than other in a given environment
4. Advantageous traits passed onto offspring

Question 9

Define evolution

Answer 9

“Change in the frequency of alleles in a population over time“

• alleles meaning a variant of a gene of trait
• population meaning a group of organisms belonging to the same species

Question 10

Define geotype

Answer 10

the set of genes that an organism carries
- usually with reference to a specific trait

Question 11

Define phenotype

Answer 11

observable trait of an organism
- traits is the expression of a genotype and can be measured, (hair or eye colour)

Question 12

Does natural selection operate on genotype or phenotype

Answer 12

Natural selection operates on the variation of phenotypes

Question 13

Define adaptation

Answer 13

trait that has been selected by Natural selection and provides some improved function

Answer 14

Organisms with advantageous alleles survive better/or reproduce more.
survival means nothing if they dont reproduce

Question 15

5 things to remember with viewing natural selection

Answer 15

1. what is the selection pressure
2. advantageous allele
3. did evolution occur
4. who evolved (never individuals)
5. which individual in the population is better adapted