steps to Darwin’s Thoery

Question 1

George Buffon

Answer 1

Proposed that species could change over time and these changes could lead to new organisms

Question 2

James Hutton

Answer 2

Geological processes were slow and occurred over long periods of time

Question 3

Charles Lyell

Answer 3

Extinction possible
Natural laws are invariable over time
The “past is the key to the present”

Question 4

Georges Cuvier

Answer 4

Extinct life forms were replaced by new ones (mammoth and modern day elephant)

Question 5

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck

Answer 5

-Recognized the important role of the environment in evolution
-Theory of Acquired Characteristics eg. Giraffe’s neck got longer as it stretched for high leaves. This trait was then passed on to the offspring.
-New, very simple species were being created all the time

Question 6

Erasmus Darwin

Answer 6

• Wrote the first treatise on evolution
  -Believed all life had come from a single source
  -Humans may be closely related to primates

Question 7

Thomas Malthus

Answer 7

• All species increase in geometric proportion outstripping their available food sources and would continue to grow until other factors (war, disease, famine) offer a check
  -Survival of the fittest