History of Evolutionary Thought Flashcards
common views before darwin
earth is young
species are divinely created
species are incapable of change
emerging scientific views before darwin (starting in the renaissance)
earth is old
earths surface has changed over time
plants and animals have changed
fields of study that contributed to evolutionary theory
geology paleontology taxonomy and systematics demography evolutionary biology
geology
study of earth
paleontology
study of fossils
taxonomy and systematics
study of classification and relationships of organisms
demography
study of populations
evolutionary biology
study of organisms and their changes over time
concept fo fixity of species
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
geology major players
James Hutton
Charles Lyell
Baron George Cuvier
james Hutton
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
charles lyell
evidence for antiquity of earth- looked at massive geological formations and argued that rocks had been laid down gradually over long periods of time
charles lyell built on the work of
james hutton
Baron George Cuvier
catastrophism- argued the changed we see today came from catastrophes (anti uniformitarianism)
no fossils? catastrophe wiped them out
major players in paleontology
robert hooke
georges cuvier
robert Hooke
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
georges cuvier
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
linnaeus
created the binomial nomenclature system
one of the most important contributions to biological knowledge today
taxonomy system
kingdom phylum class order family genus species
thomas malthus
created a theory of evolution by means of natural selection that darwin borrowed from
jean baptiste lamarck
inheritance of acquired characteristics- it was possibel to pass on characteristics acquired in life
giraffe example
What was Darwin’s role on the HMS beagle
the naturalist- to keep track of plants and animals along the way
he was also the ships educated gentleman
overall purpose of the HMS beagle
mapping expedition
Drawin did not come on the voyage as an evolutionist BUT
finches allowed him to recognize evolution an natural selection was a thing
Darwin’s finches
beak shape varied on where they lived an the food available- adapted to specific environments
what did Darwin pull together his theories with
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
why did darwin take a while to publish on the origin of species
because he recognized that his ideas were revolutionary but also recognized the implications that came from species not being of divine creation
alfred russel wallace
independantly discovered natural selection through an exploratory journey to indonesia and sent his findings to darwin
How did darwin publish his findings
in conjunction with wallace
mendelian traits
traits controlled by a single pair of genes
how many human traits are known to be inherited according to mendelian principles
over 19000
