Week 7: The History of Evolutionary Thought Flashcards
how did 1600 – 1800’s European society understand nature to be:
Constant (no extinctions, no change)
4,000 years old.
Created intentionally by a single higher being (a Christian God)
Inferior to humans, and to be controlled
(but also dangerous and uncontrollable)
Predictable
who is Joseph Banks
a British baronet who described about 1,400 species of plants.
Nicholas Steno
One of first naturalists to identify fossils as once living organisms
Identified tongue stones as shark’s teeth
Explained how seashells could be found on top of certain mountains
Argued that the Earth itself kept a record of its history
Believed in a biblical Earth just a few thousand years old
what were the 4 defining principles of stratigraphy that Nicholas Steno was credited for
◦ Law of superposition
◦ Principle of original horizontality
◦ Principle of lateral continuity
◦ Principle of cross-cutting relationships
who is Carl Linnaeus
Invented a system to classify species into groups based on shared traits
System still used today
◦ Kingdom
◦ Phylum
◦ Class
◦ Order
◦ Family
◦ Genus
◦ Species
◦ Domain (a later addition)
Believed diversity of life was a divine creation with NO extinction
what is Linnaean system
hierarchical system of classification, which organizes living organisms into categories of increasing inclusivity
While the Linnaean system laid the foundation for modern biological taxonomy, it has undergone modifications and refinements over time as our understanding of the relationships between organisms has advanced.
Georges Buffon
Proposed that Earth formed according to laws of physics (70,000+ years ago)
Same particles make up living and non-living things
Extinction was real
Argued that life changed over time
Proposed (with others) the concept of monogenism – the concept that all races of humans came from a single origin….
…But then proposed degeneration theory: that Adam and Eve were Caucasian and that all other races had ‘degenerated’ due to climate factors such as sun and wind.
what did Ernst Mayr, a leading evolutionary biologist have to say about Georges Buffon
Ernst Mayr describes this individual as a key figure in the early exploration of evolutionary ideas. Although not an evolutionary biologist, he introduced and popularized evolutionary concepts, like the “unity of type” in comparative anatomy and the long timescale of Earth’s history. He also recognized inheritance from parents through similarities in species but conflicted with evolution by advocating the immutability of species.
Georges Cuvier
Created the field of comparative anatomy in animals.
Compared elephant fossils to skeletons of living elephants in Africa and India
Discovered a new species: an extinct mastodon
Believed extinctions took place in “great catastrophes”
William Smith
Produced first detailed geological map
Discovered that layers of rocks contain distinct groups of fossils
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Argued that:
◦ complex species evolved from simple ones
Erasmus Darwin
Charles Darwin’s grandfather
had ideas on evolution very similar to Lamarck
Charles Darwin
groundbreaking contributions to the theory of evolution by means of natural selection
proposed the theory of evolution
His theory posits that species change over time through a process called natural selection, whereby the individuals best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their advantageous traits to the next generation.
Identify the differences between Lamarck and Darwin’s thinking in regards to Evolution
Lamarck
* use and disuse
* transmission of acquired characteristics
* increasing complexity
* no extinction
Darwin
* Variation
* Inheritance
* Differential survival
* Extinction
