Introduction to Evolution

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

the progressive change of organisms as they descent from ancestral species.

Question 2

modern synthesis

Answer 2

Darwin’s theory of natural selection, combined with other mechanisms of evolution discovered since Darwin form the current scientific paradigm in the biological sciences.
(Provids a central explanation for phenomena in scuh diverse fields as paleontology and develiopmental biology, medicine and psychology.)

Question 3

When was evolution for proposed

Answer 3

the ancient Greek scientist, Anaximander, proposed a theory of evolution.

Question 4

The first plausible, widely-accepted theory of evolution by natural selection was

Answer 4

Darwin and Wallace’s theory of evolution.

Question 5

What has helped us to develop a therapy for HIV?

Answer 5

Our understanding of evolutionary biology.
The “triple therapy” is an example of evolutionary medicine. (We use 3 drugs simultaneously to subvert the evolution of the virus. Evolving resistance to one drug means loosing resistance to another)

Question 6

Where does pencicillin come from?

Answer 6

It was evolved by fungi, over millions of years to kill off their bacterial competitors.

Question 7

What is happening to bacterial pathogens in response to antibiotics?

Answer 7

The bacterial pathogens have evolved resistance to our antibiotics, because extensive use of these drugs has caused very strong natural selection in favor of mutations which favor antibiotic resistance.

Question 8

the only mechanism capable of producing adaptation

Answer 8

natural selection

Question 9

Was natural selection immediately accepted?

Answer 9

No it took until the 1930s for Darwin’s ideas to be synthesized with a modern understanding of genetics for widespread acceptance.

Question 10

Intellectual stepping-stones to developing a theory of evolution include

Answer 10

• linnaeus and taxonomy
• Malthus and the principle of population
• Lyell and Uniformitarianism
• Lamarck and the first comprehensive theory of evolution
• The voyage of the beagle
• Wallace and Darwin

Question 11

Linnaeus and Taxonomy

Answer 11

• A physician and botanist. *Founded taxonomy. *Developed the two part system of nomeclature we use today
• Did not believe in evolution by descent.

Question 12

Malthus

Answer 12

“An essay on the Principle of Population”

State people tend to have more children than can possibly survive

Question 13

Previous thoughts on the age of earth

Answer 13

Hindu religion thinks it’s older.

Christian theology says it is younger

Question 14

Hutton

Answer 14

Proposed it was possible to explain geological land formations by processes that are currently in operation, such as erosion and sedimentation.

Question 15

gradualism

Answer 15

canyons were cut by the erosion of streams, layers of sediment were deposited at the edge of river deltas, these processes occurred slowly over a very long time

Question 16

Charles Lyell

Answer 16

Embraces uniformitarianism- the idea the geological processes in operation now operated similarly in the past, at about the same rate.

Question 17

Jean Baptiste Lamarck

Answer 17

Developed the first comprehensive model of evolution.

• propose organisms increased in complexity through use of an innate tendency.
• Believed characteristics acquired through a lifetime could be passed down.
• EVERY ORGANISM STRIVES FOR GREATER COMPLEXITY AND TO BE BETTER.

Question 18

Alfred Russell Wallace

Answer 18

Developed essentially the same theory of evolution by natural selection as Darwin. Originally shared credit for the discovery with Darwin.

Question 19

Why is Darwin better known today than Alfred Russell Wallace?

Answer 19

He amassed a considerable amount of evidence to support his idea’s. Wallace’s arguments were more intuitive and contained a less-extensive battery of examples.

Question 20

Arguments made in the origin of species

Answer 20

• All organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive
• All organisms vary for a wide variety of different attributes and features
• Some variation is heritable
• Some of this variation must influence reproductive success.
• Desirable characteristics will be preferentially passed on.