The history of evolution, lecture 1 Flashcards
Aristotle
date and hypothesis
c300 BC
hypothesis: life arises from nothing
Francesco Redi
date and hypothesis
1668
experimental test, compares covered and uncovered meat,
life comes from existing life , rejected aristotle’s hypothesis
Darwinian Evolution
1859 book, Charles Darwin
What were Darwin’s theories of evolution based on?
- his own observations
- Galapagos islands, Darwin’s finches
adaptation: different beaks to eat different types of food - Pigeon breeding, selective breeding
Problems for Darwin
- the church was powerful and creation myths were accepted
- Darwin avoided conflict
- he was unsure how traits were inherited, didn’t know about genetics
Neo-Darwinism
Darwin’s ideas plus genetics
Thomas Malthus theories
- more offspring produced than will survive
- populations are impacted by resource availability
Charles Lyell theories
how did this help Darwin?
(geologist)
- age of the Earth
- this helped to prove Darwin’s theories of evolution which requires a lot of time to develop
Carl Linnaeus theory
created binomial classification scheme
organisms that share characteristics
eg: Homo - Sapiens = humans
Heritable variation
offspring resemble their parents
Competition
Competition
many more offspring are produced than can be maintained by resources eg: food/space
Selection
Individuals live or die depending on traits
Evolution results in
changes in traits in a population or adaptation
George Williams theory
the modern view,
- individuals compete against each other
- only succeed if they reproduce themselves
- selection acts on individuals not species or groups
