Lesson 2 - History and Evidence Flashcards
- believed in 2 worlds: the real world (ideal and eternal), and illusionary world (imperfect and perceived through the senses)
- typological view of nature - individual variation as the imperfect manifestation of ethos
Plato (427-347 BC)
two worlds Plato believed in
- the real world
- illusionary world
ideal and eternal
the real world
imperfect and perceived through senses
illusionary world
individual variation as the imperfect manifestation of ethos
typological view of nature
believed that all living organisms could be arranged in a “scale of nature” or Great Chain of Being
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
ladder of life consists of graduation from inanimate material through plants, through lower animals and humans to other spiritual beings
Great Chain of Being
- established the modern system of taxonomy in an attempt to discover order in the diversity of life “for the grater glory of God”
- groupings based on similarity
- hierarchal relationships of organisms
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
how did Carolus Linnaeus group organisms
- groupings based on similarity
- hierarchal relationships of organisms
Early Ideas About Evolution
- Earth formed according to laws of physics and chemistry
- Life emerged as distinct types
older than previously thought
Earth formed according to laws of physics and chemistry
transformed when environment changed
Life emerged as distinct types
author of the principle of the conservation of life, according to which the amount of life in the universe is constant, life is an autonomous quality, and animate matter is as ancient as inanimate matter.
Georges Buffon (1707-88)
the amount of life in the universe is constant, life is an autonomous quality, and animate matter is as ancient as inanimate matter
principle of the conservation of life
first articulated theory of evolution
- organisms continually arise by spontaneous generation
- “nervous fluid” acts to move each species up the “great chain of being”
- organisms develop adaptations to changing environment through the use and disuse of organs (heavy use attracts more “nervous fluid”)
- acquired characteristics are inherited
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (TAASAG PANGALAN OY)
book written by Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck
Philosophie Zoologique
acts to move each species up the “great chain of being”
nervous fluid
Problems with Lamarck’s ideas
- no evidence of spontaneous generation
- no evidence of an innate drive toward complexity
- no evidence of inheritance of acquired characteristics (But.. epigenetics??)
calculated in 1664 that the Earth was precisely 5,668 years old
Archbishop James Ussher
how old was the Earth according to Archbishop James Ussher
5,668 years old
when was the earth created acc. to Archbishop James Ussher
Oct. 26 4004 BC
9:00 AM
- first to realize that the Earth’s crust contains a chronological history of geologic events and that the history may be deciphered by careful study of the strata and fossils
- rejected the idea that mountains grow like trees, proposing instead that they are formed by alterations of the Earth’s crust
- father of geology and stratigraphy
Nicolas Steno (1638-86)
- observable processes produce small changes that accumulate over time
- the earth must be old
James Hutton
different rock layers contain distinct fossils
William Smith
lead to a new concept of the age of the Earth
emerging field of GEOLOGY
- history of the earth extend back through vast time periods
- processes at work today are the same as those that have been operating throughout the entire history of Earth
Charles Lyell
What did Charles Lyell write
Principles of Geology
concept that processes at work today are the same as those that have been operating throughout the entire history of Earth
Uniformitarianism or Actualism
provided evidence that life changed
paleontology
study of ancient life, from dinosaurs to prehistoric plants, mammals, fish, insects, fungi, and even microbes
Paleontology
- fossils resemble but are not exactly the same as modern species
- many past species are extinct
Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
discovered several species of extinct marine reptiles
Mary Anning
- briefly studied medicine at Edinburgh
- studied for the clergy at Christ’s College, Cambridge University
- interacted with some natural scientist (John Henslow and Adam Sedgwick) at Cambridge
- offered a position (in 1831) as the ship’s naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle, which was going on an expedition to chart the waters of South America
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-82)
where did Charles Robert Darwin study medicine
Edinburgh
natural scientists Charles Robert Darwin interacted with
- John Henslow
- Adam Sedgwick
- wrote papers on plant variation and on zoological aspects of natural history
- naturalist, a Cambridge academic, most remembered as a friend and mentor of Charles Darwin
- inspired Darwin with a passion for natural history,
- proposed Darwin to sail on the HMS Beagle as the naturalist on its five-year voyage
- promoted Darwin’s work as he developed his theory of evolution
John Henslow
- founded the system for the classification of Cambrian rocks and with Roderick Murchison worked out the order of the Carboniferous and underlying Devonian strata
- studied the geology of the British Isles and Europe
Adam Sedgwick
Variation in bill shape among Galapagos Finches
- closely related species which occupy different ecological settings tend to have different characteristics
- populations that are physically isolated tend to differ
- order of colonization of species in an ecosystem from a barren or destroyed area of land
- Pioneer species, like moss and lichen, are the first to colonize an area. They change the environment so it is suitable for larger plants, like shrubs and grass.
Law of Succession
Observations from Domestic Animals
- high levels of variability within a species
- variants can pass these characteristics to offspring
- artificial selection can rapidly alter the characteristics of a breed
- populations reproduce exponentially
- natural populations have a large capacity to reproduce and if left unchecked they will increase at a rapid rate
- many more organisms are born than can possibly survive
- wrote essay on the principle of populations
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
what did Thomas Malthus write
Essay on the Principle of Populations
when did Charles Darwin say “… it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved and unfavourable ones to be destroyed”
Sept. 28, 1838
he had the revolutionary idea of evolution by natural selection entirely independently of Charles Darwin
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
Darwin’s four theories of evolution
- evolution has occurred
- primary cause of evolutionary change is natural selection
- splitting of single species into tow or more species has occurred
- evolutionary change is gradual
- species are not unchanging entities, but evolve over time
- all species derive from very different species living in the past
- this theory was not entirely new, but Darwin provided convincing evidence for it
evolution has occurred
species change over time because bearers of different traits have different probabiliies of contributing offspring to the next generation
primary cause of evolutionary change is natural selection
- Darwin postulated that all life originated with one or a few species
- because many species exist today, there must have been a process whereby one species split into at least two species
splitting of single species into two or more species has occurred
The necessary conclusion from the third theory of Darwin is
all species share common ancestors
evolution occurs by the gradual transformation of populations over long periods of time (hundreds to millions of years) rather than by a species changing nearly instantaneously into something different
evolutionary change is gradual
What are the elements of evolution by natural selection?
- competition
- variation
- heritability
- iteration
many more individuals are born than survive
competition
individuals vary in traits directly related to their ability to survive and reproduce
variation
these advantageous traits are passed on to offspring
heritability
this process is repeated generation after generation over long periods of time
iteration
Biology’s Law
evolution by natural selection
a necessary outcome of differential survival and reproduction, provided the characteristics that caused those differences are heritable
evolution by natural selection
What is the evidence for evolution?
principles of homology and common descent
evolution can be viewed as a series of bifurcations in a phylogenetic tree
all life can be traced back to a common ancestor
how do groups of species that share a common ancestor derive attributes from that ancestor
common descent
future evolutionary paths are __ by past history
constrained
phenomenon of having same skeletal elements appear in very different species only makes sense as a process of what
descent with modification
universal genetic material
DNA
- rudimentary anatomical structures that are retained in a species despite having lost their primary ancestral function
- These structures often lack an apparent purpose, in contrast to the full functionality of these organs observed in closely related and ancestral species
Vestigial organs
genes that seem to serve no purpose
vestigial genes
major evolutionary transitions
the tetrapod limb
- process by which humans choose individual organisms with certain phenotypic trait values for breeding
- If there is additive genetic variance for the selected trait, it will respond to the selection, that is, the trait will evolve.
Artificial selection
major lines of evidence for evolution
- homology and common descent
- the fossil record
- direct observation of evolutionary change through time
evolutionary change in response to changing environmental conditions
- Contemporary Evolutio or
- Evolution in Ecological Time
process by which populations of organisms change over time
biological evolution
changes in the genome of an organism
mutation
mutations can be __, __ or __
- neutral
- detrimental
- beneficial
occurs when heritable characteristics cause some individuals to survive and reproduce more successfully than others
natural selection
mechanism of evolution that can cause the genetic composition of a population to shift from generation to generation
natural selection (ang nakabutang pero feeling nako genetic drift dapat)
use many different lines of evidence to test hypotheses about evolution
evolutionary biologists
explains the patters of life observable in the natural world and the processes by which that life has evolved
evolutionary theory
