History of Evolutionary Thought

Question 1

common views before darwin

Answer 1

earth is young
species are divinely created
species are incapable of change

Question 2

emerging scientific views before darwin (starting in the renaissance)

Answer 2

earth is old
earths surface has changed over time
plants and animals have changed

Question 3

fields of study that contributed to evolutionary theory

Answer 3

geology 
paleontology
taxonomy and systematics
demography
evolutionary biology

Question 4

geology

Answer 4

study of earth

Question 5

paleontology

Answer 5

study of fossils

Question 6

taxonomy and systematics

Answer 6

study of classification and relationships of organisms

Question 7

demography

Answer 7

study of populations

Question 8

evolutionary biology

Answer 8

study of organisms and their changes over time

Question 9

concept fo fixity of species

Answer 9

existed in medieval times

states that the way things are are the way they came into being and the way that they will always be

Question 10

geology major players

Answer 10

James Hutton
Charles Lyell
Baron George Cuvier

Question 11

james Hutton

Answer 11

Geological Strata- understood layers of rock in the earth, how they were created and how they changed

uniformitarianism- idea that the forces we can see today were also active in the past, contributes to understanding that earth is old

Question 12

charles lyell

Answer 12

evidence for antiquity of earth- looked at massive geological formations and argued that rocks had been laid down gradually over long periods of time

Question 13

charles lyell built on the work of

Answer 13

james hutton

Question 14

Baron George Cuvier

Answer 14

catastrophism- argued the changed we see today came from catastrophes (anti uniformitarianism)

no fossils? catastrophe wiped them out

Question 15

major players in paleontology

Answer 15

robert hooke

georges cuvier

Question 16

robert Hooke

Answer 16

discovered fossils are remains of living things by comparing fossilized wood to regular wood

first to apply the word “cell” to biological materials

invented one of the first practical microscopes

Question 17

georges cuvier

Answer 17

organisms can go extinct- fossils are from organisms that no longer exist

different fossils exist in different geological strata- aging fossils based on layers of rocks to show evolutionary changes

BUT he was a catastrophist

Question 18

linnaeus

Answer 18

created the binomial nomenclature system

one of the most important contributions to biological knowledge today

Question 19

taxonomy system

Answer 19

kingdom
phylum
class
order
family
genus 
species

Question 20

thomas malthus

Answer 20

created a theory of evolution by means of natural selection that darwin borrowed from

Question 21

jean baptiste lamarck

Answer 21

inheritance of acquired characteristics- it was possibel to pass on characteristics acquired in life

giraffe example

Question 22

What was Darwin’s role on the HMS beagle

Answer 22

the naturalist- to keep track of plants and animals along the way

he was also the ships educated gentleman

Question 23

overall purpose of the HMS beagle

Answer 23

mapping expedition

Question 24

Drawin did not come on the voyage as an evolutionist BUT

Answer 24

finches allowed him to recognize evolution an natural selection was a thing

Question 25

Darwin’s finches

Answer 25

beak shape varied on where they lived an the food available- adapted to specific environments

Question 26

what did Darwin pull together his theories with

Answer 26

Lyell and Hutton- Earth old, gradualism
Cuvier- fossils resemble living forms
Malthus- ideas about reproduction, populations and variation
Linnaeus and Lamarck- species are related and species can change

Question 27

why did darwin take a while to publish on the origin of species

Answer 27

because he recognized that his ideas were revolutionary but also recognized the implications that came from species not being of divine creation

Question 28

alfred russel wallace

Answer 28

independantly discovered natural selection through an exploratory journey to indonesia and sent his findings to darwin

Question 29

How did darwin publish his findings

Answer 29

in conjunction with wallace

Question 30

mendelian traits

Answer 30

traits controlled by a single pair of genes

Question 31

how many human traits are known to be inherited according to mendelian principles

Answer 31

over 19000