Week 1

Question 1

who are the four main influential authors of evolutionary theory?

Answer 1

1. Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)
   who wrote the first theory of evolution
   called the Lamarckian theory of the
   transmutation of species.
2. Charles Darwin (1808-1882)
   famous HML Beagle voyage, Gallipolis
   finch samples, wrote the origin of
   species with Wallace which included the
   three elements of evolution (competition,
   variation and inheritance), wrote the
   decent of man in 1871.
3. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
   wrote the Malthusian theory of evolution
   with four key elements: production of
   food, population size, Malthusian
   catastrophe and positive checks.
4. Alfred Russell Wallace (1823-1913)
   took heaps of specimen samples, wrote
   the Wallace and Webber lines theory,
   Sarawak law, ternate, co-wrote the origin
   of species.

Question 2

who wrote the first evolutionary theory? what was the theory?

Answer 2

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)

 Before Jean Baptiste de Lamarck people
believed that animals satyed in the same
form they were created in.
 Jean wrote the first scientific theory of
evolution.
 The Lamarckian Theory of Evolution
(transmutation of species) poists that
increasing complexity in nature is due to
animals adapting to their local conditions
through use and disuse. Meaning that
physical changes in an organism coincide
with uses and disuse of said features to aid
in their survical and are passed down onto
offspring.
 E.g., the girraffe grew long necks due to
their repeated extension of their necks to
reach higher leaves.
 Critqued for its inability to explain what
happens when animals loose limbs and
that deformity is not passed down onto
offspring.

Question 3

what is the Malthusian theory?

Answer 3

Wrote the principle of population which proposed his theory that food production progresses linearly over time.

The population expands quadratically (i.e., much more quickly).

When population exceeds the production of food that is currently available this is called the Malthusian catastrophe.

To address this positive checks such as war or famine occur to bring down population size to meet the current rate of food production.

Question 4

when was the species of origins by Darwin & Wallace written?

Answer 4

1859

Question 5

(11) people who Influenced Charles Darwin?

Answer 5

a. Robert Edmond Grant
b. John Edmonstone
c. William Paley
d. Alexander Von Humboldt
e. William Herschel (1831)
f. John Steven Hanslo
g. Captin Fitzroy and Charles Lyell
h. John Gould
i. Emma Darwin
j. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
k. Anonymous (1884)

Question 6

(1) who is Robert Edmond Grant?

Answer 6

Darwin fell under the wing of Mr Grant who taught him about Lamarkians theory of evolution (transmutation of species).

Question 7

(2) who is John Edmonstone?

Answer 7

Freed slave from South America which taught him all about species diversity outside of England and taxidermy.

Question 8

(3) who is William Paley?

Answer 8

When medical school didn’t work for Darwin he was sent to Cambridge to become a priest.

There he learnt about William Paley’s work on “Natural Theology” and he is often referred to as the grandfather of intelligent design.

He is also famous for the watchmaker analogy “if you found a watch in the sand, it would be so irrefutably complex to be explained by nature that you must conclude that someone made it even if you don’t know who the watch maker is”

Question 9

(4) who is Alexander Von Humboldt?

Answer 9

Famous for his electric eels work where he wrote very detailed descriptions of how things work in nature.

The first step at adopting a meticulous scientifc approach with detailed accounts that are still used today.

Combines a passion for nature and science.

Unity of nature: Nature herself is sublimley eloquent. The stars as they sparkle in finament fill us with delight amd ecstacy, and yet they all move in orbit with mathematical precision.

Question 10

(5) who is William Herschel (1831)?

Answer 10

The perliminary discourse on the study of natural philosophy

Presented the idea that there are irrmutable laws in nature to be discovered and these laws govern natural processes.

Question 11

(6) who is John Steven Hanslo?

Answer 11

Biology classes on Botany.

Plants, herbiums, and variation withina fixed species.

Recommended Darwin for the HMS Beagle Vouage

Question 12

(7) who are Captin Fitzroy and Charles Lyell?

Answer 12

Fitzroy took him on the HMS Beagle vouage around the world and gave him a book by Charles Lyell called the principles of geology which argued that the earth is much older than we once thought and has gradually changed overtime by the laws of nature. They believed humans to be an expection to this and perceived to be unchanging in a changing world.

On the vouage he had contact with slavery.

Took samples from lots of places but didn’t adequatley lable when and where they came from.

His focus was more on geology rather than biology at this stage.

(4) Gallapogise Island bird samples were taken and sent hoe to John Gould for analysis.

Question 13

(8) who is John Gould?

Answer 13

Told drawin he had more varitation than (4) species in his samples all taken from the same small island. Why? What is the purpose of having so much variation in species in the same ecological location? This is a question he had not answered yet.

However, now we know that variation within finchs occurs because it allows them to fufill ecological niches.

Following Darwins return home he reflected on how he was only well known as a geologist and not a biologist. Thus, he took the time to bolster his credentials and conduct research and papers on biology; particularly on what molosces are and their variations using the Lamarckian theory of transmutation.

He wasn’t able to address “why” variation occurs till he read Malthus’s theory of evolution.

Question 14

(9) who is Emma Darwin?

Answer 14

Darwin married his cousin. She was highly religous and feared that her husbands beliefs in tramsmutation of species (which went against christian beliefs) would seperate them in the afterlife.

Question 15

(10) who is Thomas Robert Malthus?

Answer 15

Wrote the principle of population which proposed his theory that food production progresses linearly overtime. The population expands quadratically (i.e., much more quickly). When population exceeds the production of food that is currently available this is called the malthusian catastrophe. To address this positive checks such as war or famine occur to bring down population size to meet the current rate of food production.

This theory guided and provided insights to his systematic enquiry of plants and animals which lead to the realisation that overtime favourable variations tend to be preserved and unfavourable variations die out. He begun to see that variation allowed species to adapt to changes in their natural environment which increased their survivial and chances that their variation is preserved and passed onto their offspring.

At this point darwin is documenting his ideas but he doesn’t publish anything

Question 16

(11) who is Anonymous (1884)?

Answer 16

The publication of “the vestiges of the natural history of creation” written by an anonymous author.

It was a very popular paper which the king read as a bedtime story to his wife. It was highly speculative and not scientific at all.

It focused on evolution of all things being a linear process with english males being the pinical of the tree which we know today is not true.

Fish (F), Reptiles (R), and Birds (B) were believed to be branches of evolution which form the path to mammals.

This publication lead Darwin to be apprihensive on publishing his own work.

Question 17

what (3) people influenced Wallace?

Answer 17

He was influenced by the same major authors of their time as Darwin with these (3) additions:

Ida Laura Pfeiffer
Wallace’s teaching job meant he had access to literature by Ida Laura Pfefiffer who was a naturalist.
This meant he has also was exposed to the same theories as Darwin was.

Henry Walter Bates
Was a collegue of Wallace’s who together got very interested in studying variation in beetles.

Anonymous (1884)
Wallace also read “the vestiges of the natural history of creation” instead wallace and his brothers reaction differed from Darwin in that instead of being scared to publish work on the subject they were inspired to test the proposed theory.
E.g., he syayed that he would like to study the varitation of beetles

Question 18

How did the Origin of species come about?

Answer 18

Darwin and Wallace worked independently on developing a theory of evolution.

Wallace sent his “ternate” to Darwin to review and pass on to Charles Lyell to publish. It was lost. Darwin and Wallace ended up coming up with a very similar theory. they came to a gentleman’s agreement to collate their work and copublish the origin of species.

Question 19

Queen Victoria’s reign was between — and —

Answer 19

1819-1901

Question 20

what were the three key changes that occurred over queen victoria’s reign?

Answer 20

o Industrialisation and Urbanisation
o Reform Acts (extension of the franchise)
1832, 1867, 1884
o Empire, Travel, & Technology

Question 21

What are (4) examples of industrialization and urbanization of England over the 19th century?

Answer 21

a) Population Change of England:
• Over the 19th century the population of
England trippled from apporx. 10 million to
30 million people.
• The rapid population growth corresponded
with the rapid Urbanisation of England.

b) Population Change of London:
• From 1856 when Darwin published his
paper called “the origins of species” the
popuation of England doubled from 2
million to 4 million people in London.
• London is the largest city of England which
was industrialied and a large manufactuer.

c) Transition from Rural into Urban:
• The percentage of rural areas of England
decreased overtime and the percentage of
urban cities increased between 1801-1881.

d) Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861)
• An english author who wrote the famous
poem “the cry of the children” in 1843.
• This poem was designed to pull on the
heart strings and compare innocent fawn
playing in nature with the children in the
land of the free where the transistion from
rural into urban areas lead to issues such
as child labour.
• They critque the current sociocultural
context which forces children to work in
mines, and wish about death instead of
playing in nature and being happy and free
like they should be; critiques the
romantisization of industrialisation and the
immorality of child labour

Question 22

What are (3) examples of Reform Acts (extension of the franchise) that occurred over queen victorias reign?

Answer 22

a) Redistribution of wealth and power from
aristocracy to emerging
middle/professional class.
• The economy being centered around trade
caused power to be redistributed within
society.

b) Professionalism and self-making (for men);
domesisity and virtue (for women).
• The influence of victorian gender norms
where the male went out into the world to
work and earn money and the home was
viewed as a sancturary the women took
care of (i.e., angels).
• Political change into democritisation along
with changes in societal values and norms
were slow and gradual over the 19th
century.
• “G for Gentleman” or “angel in the house”
are examples of the idealised gender norms
within victorian society in the 19th century.

c) Culture and literature responded to the
competing ideas of the desire for reform
(i.e., harnessing the industrial progress and
power) and christian rooted concerns about
harm caused and resulting problems within
society.
• Charles Dickens 1812-1870s
• A famous author in the victorian era who
addressed issue of gender norms, critiques
of industrialisation and how to respond to it.
• He viewed industrialisation as souless,
unatural and destructive.
• “brick that would have been red if the
smoke and ashes allowed it”
• “unnatural red and black like the painted
face of a savage”
• “smoke trailed themselves forever and ever
and never got uncoiled”

Question 23

What are (4) exampes of Empire, Travel, & Technology changes over queen victorias reign?

Answer 23

a) Changing notions of space and time

• In 1898 the British Empire rapidly expanded
over the world as new territories were
established which brought war, violence,
and empowered.

• It caused people to be more aware of the
wider world outside of their home (space).

• Technological advancement shifted
peoples sense of the present (time)

• E.g., greenwich time (cities sharing the
same time), railway advancement made
travel quicker and allowed people to come
to understand their place in the world (1851-
1900s).

• The great exhibition of the works of
industry of all nations (1851) is the crystal
palace in highpark which was a grand
celerbration of the technological
advancement of man within the British
Empire. Darwin among many other famous
writers visited it.

• Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was a writer
influenced by Darwin’s work and wrote “a
pair of blue eyes” in 1871. From his work
came the term cliffhanger where a man and
a women he was courting was walking
along the cliffside where they fell off the
edge. The man saved the women but
remained himself hanging off the cliffside.
He used this time to reflect on the geology
of the cliffside as a fossil, human
development and their impact on nature.
He says “when time collapses we are all
fossils… I’m gonna die like this fossil”.

Question 24

What is Sarawak Law (Wallace, 1855) theory of evolution?

Answer 24

 On the law which was regulated the
introduction of new species.
 Proposes that new species are introduced
rather than transforming from an ancestor
overtime.
 When he published this Wallace was still in
Malaysia getting closer and closer to the
origin of species.
 He believed that every species has come
into existence by coincidence both in
space and time with a pre-existing closley
allied species (i.e., species are not
randomly distributed in ecological systems.
and they coincidentaly are placed next to
organisms within the same species with
variation).

Question 25

What is Ternate (Wallace, 1858) theory of evolution?

Answer 25

 This paper he wrote has since been lost
but some exerpts still remain.
 “vaugely thinking over the enormous and
constant destruction which this implies, it
occured to me to ask the question, why do
some die and some live?”
 Wallace got sick in Malaysia and his high
fever provided him with insight into the
meaning of life. He compared the
systematic differences between organisms
of the same species with Malfusion theory
to explain why some died and some lived.
 He concluded that variation are necessary
changes for the adaption of the species to
changing conditions. Furthermore, in the
process of modification the unmodified
would die out.
 In doing so, the seperation of species
could be explained.
 Varities depart indefinatley from the
original type.

Question 26

Three principles of Darwinian Evolution:

Answer 26

 Three principles of Darwinian Evolution:

1. Competition
   - There are more individuls then the
   environment can sustain (i.e., draws from
   Malfusian theory).
2. Variation
   - Individuals vary in allels/genes/traits (i.e.,
   draws from Wallace and Hanslo’s work).
3. Inheretence
   - Survival passes “something” onto their
   offspring; an adaptive quality.

Question 27

(3) followers of darwin?

Answer 27

o Thomas Henry Huxley (Darwins Bulldog)
 Aithest
 Heavily pushes the theory of natural
selection above creationism.

o Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel
(Darwins Dachshund)
 German
 Famous embryo drawings which show that
very different species often come from
very similar embryos and organism go
through individual-level evolution overtime.
 At the time this was progressive scientific
thought and banned from some
universities (i.e., natural selection).
 Later on he developed his own religion.

o Francis Galton (Darwins Cousin)
 Psychologist who specialised in
personality.
 Developed the lexical hypothesis.
 Famous controversial work on “heredity
genius” and his role in the eugenics
movement (i.e., the study of how to arrange
reproduction within a human population to
increase the occurrence of heritable
characteristics regarded as desirable and
improve the human race).

Question 28

who was called darwins bulldog?

Answer 28

Thomas Henry Huxley

Question 29

who was called darwin Dachshund?

Answer 29

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel

Question 30

who was darwins cousin?

Answer 30

Francis Galton

Question 31

Why was the Decent of Man (Darwin, 1871) a controversial paper?

Answer 31

o The Controversy:
 Why do peacocks have brightly coloured
feathers? How do they survive? Darwin
came up with the theory of sexual
selection which claimed that these traits
are costly signals that help males find a
sexual partner when oppurtunities for
reproduction are smaller. Furthermore, the
costly signals help ensure that the males
with the “best” genes reproduce.
 Wallace at first liked the idea of extending
their theory of evolution to mankind but
changed his mind when he became more
spiritual, adopted beliefs about dualism
and a passion for liberalisation of society.
 Darwin and Wallace were not enimies;
they admired one another but were in
scientific competition.

Question 32

who termed the phrase “survival of the fittest”?

what is progressionism?

Answer 32

Herbert Spencer
 He was a progresivist who saw education
as a means to evolve humans into the
perfect being.
 He termed the phrase survival of the fittest
which meant that organisms which fit into
the environment survive!
 Progressionism = evolution occurs in a
stright line which is inaccurate and
reinforces heirarchy of man based on race.

Question 33

what key elements did wallace and darwins original theory of evolution lack?

Answer 33

Understanding of the mechanisms of inheritance and geologists claims that the earth was not old enough for random variation to take place.

Question 34

The resurrection of the theory of Neo-Darwinism occurred in ___ and was lead by ___

Answer 34

o Wallace and Darwin’s 
   theories fell into disuse 
   because they could not 
   explain the key issues of 
   inheritance and variation. 
o Other competing idea like 
   “Lamarckian Theory” took its 
   place.
o The ironic resurrection of 
   the theory as “Neo- 
  Darwinism” by Gregor 
  Johann Mendel (1822-1884).
o He came up with two 
   important ideas:
   the laws of segregation and 
   independent assortment.

Question 35

what is the law of segregation?

Answer 35

an organism receives 2 alleles, one from each parent that are randomly selected.

Question 36

what is the law of independent assortment?

Answer 36

the segregation of multiple distinctive traits occur independently (R/r, A/a).

Question 37

what is a homozygous pairing?

Answer 37

If they match i.e., RR or rr than it’s termed homozygote (dominant-dominant; recessive-recessive).

Question 38

what is a heterozygous pairing?

Answer 38

If the mismatch i.e., Rr or rR a hybrid plant is breed and is called a heterozygote (dominant-recessive; where the dominant gene is expressed).

Question 39

what are three mechanisms of selection from the Neo-Darwinism theory of evolution?

Answer 39

1. Directional Selection:
   - For example,
   - Why do giraffes have long
   necks?
   - The juicy leaves are at the
   top of the tree so giraffes
   with longer necks survive
   and pass these genes on to
   the next generation whilst
   giraffes with shorter necks
   die out.
   - Overtime, the mean giraffe
   neck length gradually gets
   longer (moves to the right)
   with still room for variation
   within the population.
   - This continues over
   generations till the “need” for
   longer necks is no longer
   present because they can
   reach the leaves and
   bidirectional evolution is no
   longer relevant.
2. Balancing Selection:
   - Moths come in different
   pigmentation.
   - Grey moths are able to blend
   into birch trees well, but
   white and dark grey moths
   are easier to spot by
   predators and some of them
   die out whilst grey moths
   reproduce.
   - Overtime, the extremity of the
   variation in pigmentation
   lessens (i.e., white become
   less white and dark grey less
   dark, but they are still
   disadvantaged relative to the
   grey moths).
3. Disruptive Selection:
   - Finch’s with three different
   beak sizes. The larger beak is
   good for breaking seeds, the
   smaller beak is good for
   eating bugs and the medium
   size beak is not good at
   either.
   - The larger and smaller beaks
   fill ecological niches and
   these finches are able to
   thrive and pass on their
   genes whereas the finch with
   a medium sized beak cannot
   find enough food to survive
   and dies out and the variation
   between finch’s in a species
   increases.

Question 40

who is Ernst Mayr (1904-2005)

Answer 40

 Published “the systematics 
  and the origin of species” in 
  which he defines a species as 
  “Species are groups of actually 
  or potentially interbreeding 
  natural populations, which are 
  reproductively isolated from 
  other such groups” which is 
  still debated today!

 He tried to shift people’s
perceptions of what a species
is from visual variations in
species to genetic variation.

 He publishes “cause and
effect in biology” where aims
to explain what causes animal
behaviour?

 E.g., Why did the warbler start
his southward migration on the
night of the 25th of August?

 He outlines (4) Tentative
Reasons:

1. An Ecological Cause:
   - Warblers eat insects and when
   there is no longer sufficient
   food in their environment they
   migrate.
2. A Biological Cause:
   - Warblers respond to this
   environmental factor in a
   genetically predetermined
   way.

3. An Intrinsic Physiological 
   Cause:
- Photoperiodicity; an organisms 
  response to changes in day 
  length that’s internal.

4. An Extrinsic Physiological 
   Cause:
- A cold northerly wind passed 
  through on the 25th August 
  which triggered their 
  migration.
 He then outlines two main 
   types of causes:
(A) Proximal Cause:
- relevant motivators that occur 
  within an organisms lifetime.
(B) Ultimate Cause:
- motivated by long-term things 
  such as starvation; if everyone 
  starves no one can reproduce.

Question 41

who is Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975)

Answer 41

 He was influential because 
  he writes a book which 
  summarizes all the 
  information they currently 
  had on genetics. He got 
  research started on fruit fly’s. 
 “Nothing in biology makes 
  sense except in the light of 
  evolution”
 We start to see the shift 
   towards people working on 
  genetic explanations. Beyond 
  the mechanisms of 
  inheritance there are random 
  mutations in individuals that 
  are caused by external 
  factors and lead to the 
  miscoding of certain base 
  pairs.

Question 42

who is Julian Huxley (1887-1975)

Answer 42

He comes up with the term “modern synthesis” which summarises and synthesis the genetic view into Neo-Darwinism.

Question 43

who is Trofim Lysenko

Answer 43

o During the cold war the 
  soviet union outlawed 
  geneticist research because it 
  didn’t match their Marxism 
  philosophy and Lamarckian 
  theory. 
o He strongly peddled the 
  Lamarkian theory within the 
  soviet union and he believed 
  that is you freeze peas and 
  resow them they would be 
  more resistant to frost-not 
  true.
o This lead to major starvation 
  in the Soviet Union under 
  Stalin’s regime.

Question 44

who is Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962)

Answer 44

o While working as a school 
   teacher in London, he started 
   analysing the rediscovered 
   laws by Mendel and was the 
   first to demonstrate 
   mathematically that a large 
   number of genes that work 
   independently can produce 
   continuous variation among 
   phenotypic traits which was 
   consistent with Mendel’s laws.
o Caveat:
• Don’t get too attached to 
   fisher- whilst he came up with 
   well-known theories, he was a 
   eugenicist (selective 
   reproduction to preserve 
   desired traits and breed out 
   undesirable traits).
• He also found Mendel’s study 
   to be too good to be true. His 
   findings were statistically 
   improbable and indicate 
   biased research although it’s 
   still a supported theory.

Question 45

Darwins original theory of inheretence?

Answer 45

 His natural selection theory 
   claimed: ‘Any variation which 
   is not inherited is 
   unimportant’ …[t]he laws 
   governing inheritance are 
   quite unknown’.  
 We know it’s not a good 
   theory if you admit you do 
   not know how a key element 
   works. 
 He produced the “The 
   Provisional Hypothesis of 
   Pangenesis” (Pan = whole, 
   genesis = origin) which is the 
   idea that there is a 
   “Gemmulus”.
 Taking Herbert Spencer’s 
   idea of physiological units 
   within cells each cell in your 
   body with small gemmules 
   parts that shed off and allow 
   for the blending of traits. 
   E.g., Mother-Father mix and 
   blend in the embryo to 
   produce the traits of the 
   offspring- we now know that 
   this is not how inheritance 
   works but back then they did 
   not know about genetics. 

Logical Flaws in This Theory of Inheretence:
 If you loose an arm you will 
   no longer have these cell to 
   shed their gemmulus and be 
   passed down onto their 
   offspring. Does this mean 
   the offspring will be born 
  with a deformity? Similar 
   critique of Lamarckian 
   Theory.
 If cells are mixed in the 
   embryo as the theory 
   suggests we would end up 
   with indiscriminant equally 
   distributed soup- varaition 
   would not occur!