History of Evolutionary Thought

Question 1

Evolution Definition

Answer 1

Change over time

Question 2

What was the significance of Theology during the Pre-Renaissance Period?

Answer 2

Theology was a powerful spiritual, legal, and political force

Question 3

What was the Church Doctrine (Abrahamic religions)?

Answer 3

It stated that the natural world had always existed in the same form that it exists today

Question 4

How was the Church Doctrine enforced?

Answer 4

By imprisonment of worse

Question 5

How was Aristotle influential to Pre-Renaissance science?

Answer 5

He developed the structure called the Great Chain of Being

Question 6

How was Ptolemy influential to Pre-Renaissance science? (2)

Answer 6

• He developed the idea of a Geocentric Universe composted of nested spheres
• He stated that Earth was an organic world that was stable and unchanging

Question 7

What occurred during the Renaissance and Enlightenment Period?

Answer 7

Scientists and scholars began to question and challenge the idea of an unchanging world

Question 8

What theory did Nicolaus Copernicus develop in the 16th Century?

Answer 8

The Theory of Heliocentrism

Question 9

Theory of Heliocentrism

Answer 9

A superseded astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe.

Question 10

What was the significance of Francis Bacon during the 17th Century? (2)

Answer 10

He introduced use of deductive method and basis of modern day scientific techniques

Question 11

What was the significance of Rene Descartes during the 17th Century?

Answer 11

He contributed to a new method of mathematics called Cartesian Geometry

Question 12

What was the significance of Isaac Newton during the 17th Century? (3)

Answer 12

He developed:
- Calculus
- Laws of Motion
- Laws of Gravity

Question 13

What was the significance of Robert Hooke during the 17th Century?

Answer 13

He figured out that the Earth’s surface had changed dramatically during its creation by analyzing marine fossils

Question 14

What idea did scientists challenge at the end o the 17th Century?

Answer 14

The idea of a static universe

Question 15

What idea did scientists NOT challenge at the end of the 17th Century and WHY NOT?

Answer 15

They did not challenge the fixity of species because they believed in the idea that God created each species “as-is”

Question 16

What was the significance of Carolus Linnaeus during the 18th Century?

Answer 16

He developed Systems Naturae, a static classification of plants and animals

Question 17

What was the significance of Count Louis Buffon during the 18th Century?

Answer 17

• He noted variation within species (influenced by local climate)

Question 18

What was the significance of Jean Baptiste Lamarck during the 18th Century? (2)

Answer 18

• He developed the first theory of macroevolution
• Coined the term “biology”

Question 19

What was the significance of Linnaeus during the 18th Century? (2)

Answer 19

• Linnaean Taxonomy
• Binomial Nomenclature

Question 20

What is Linnaean Taxonomy?

Answer 20

The biological classification system used to demonstrate the hierarchy of groupings

Question 21

Linnaeus believed in the ____ ,so he did not ask ____ and did not see that ____

Answer 21

He believed in the fixity of species, so he did not ask “why are some organisms so similar to others?” and did not see that similar species must share a common ancestor

Question 22

What was Lamarckian Evolution the first to do?

Answer 22

First theory to discuss speciation

Question 23

Lamarckian Inheritance (3)

Answer 23

• Mechanism of speciation
• Organs develop according to their usefulness
• Effects of use and disuse are inherited

Question 24

What were the problems with Lamarcks theories? (2)

Answer 24

• Desires, wishes, and needs do NOT results in the ability to change morphology and behavior
• Inheritance of acquired traits is not possible

Question 25

What was the significance of George Cuvier during the 18th and19th Century? (2)

Answer 25

• Father of zoology, paleontology, and comparative anatomy
• Supported catastrophism, opposed evolution

Question 26

What was the significance of Charles Lyell during the 19th Century? (2)

Answer 26

• Father of Modern Geology
• Principle of Uniformitarianism

Question 27

What was the significance of Darwin during the 19th Century?

Answer 27

Theory of Natural Selection

Question 28

What is Catastrophism?

Answer 28

• Explanation for fossil evidence for extinction
• Allowed for change AND fixity of species

Question 29

What is the Principle of Uniformitarianism?

Answer 29

• Geological processes observed in the present are the same as those which occurred in the past

Question 30

What was Darwin’s Evolution of Common Descent?

Answer 30

The observations of the finches were evidence for evolution by common descent

Question 31

Darwin’s Mechanism of Selection

Answer 31

Individuals with favorable characteristics for living in their environment would survive to reproduce. Those with unfavorable variations would not

Question 32

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (1)

Answer 32

All organisms are capable of producing offspring faster than the food supply increases

Question 33

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (2)

Answer 33

All things show variation

Question 34

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (3)

Answer 34

There is a fierce struggle for existence, where those with the most suitable variations are most likely to survive and reproduce

Question 35

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (4)

Answer 35

Variations or traits are passed on to offspring (inherited)

Question 36

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection (4)

Answer 36

Small changes every generation lead to major changes over long periods of time