Exam 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Archbishop James Ussher
A
he calculated the earth being created on 4004BC
2
Q
Nicholas Steno
A
considered by many as the father of geology
- in 1667 he disected a shark
- noted simularities in shark teeth with rocks
- discovered that some rocks were once in an animal: fossils
- he discovered theory that the flood probably did happen and
these fossils are
what became of it
- created law of superstition
3
Q
Comte De Buffon
A
- uniformitarianism
- explained earth’s creation in naturalistic terms. He was one
of the first person to
naturally explain the age of earth not by what the bible says
- he increased the age of earth to 70,000 years.
-he secretly admitted that the earth could be older than 70,000
years
- thought earth made by meteor hit sun and chunk fell off and it
cooled that was earth
4
Q
James Hutton
A
- came up of the idea of small changes over a vast period of time explained
geological structures (uniformitarianism)
- "the earth has no vestige of a beginning and no prospect of an end"
- catastrophic events are rare, but do not explain change.
5
Q
George Cuvier
A
- knew that fossils were extinct animals, which was troubling religiously
- so he decided to explain extinction in a more religious way. Explained it through
catastrophe
- one way he explained it was the biblical flood, and said that that was the most
recent catastrophe
- he accepted that the earth was changing, but evolution did not take place.
6
Q
William Buckland
A
- he studied more on catastophism and expanded on it, saying that some animals
needed to progress and also stated that humans were the best (perfect)species
because they could adapt through the catastrophes.
- he said that previous versions of species became “better” in a sense with
adaption, saying that species will go extinct if they can’t adapt
7
Q
Charles Lyell
A
- created the book “principles of geology” (1833)
- also expanded on Hutton’s uniformitarianism
- his work was very influential on Darwin. Darwin carried his book everywhere
8
Q
Carolus Linnaeus
A
- created book “Systema Naturae” (1735)
- created a way of classifications of species. Scientific classification (family) and the
species names. ie: Homo sapiens
- according to Linnaeus, species couldn’t change. He didn’t believe in evolution.
- nested hierarchy and binomial nomenclature
9
Q
Erasmus Darwin
A
- published a book called zoonomia
- proposed that species changed through time
- proposed that species were created by God and then perfected through evolution
- Charles Darwin’s grandfather
10
Q
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
A
- created the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics
- said that species change through time
- said that plants and animals adapted to their environment
- used example of giraffe, said that they had small neck ancestors and then over
time their necks grew longer
11
Q
Thomas Malthus
A
- political economist
- created “an essay on the principle of population”
- argued that population size and the rate of growing food are slowly equaling and
running out of food with a huge population increase in humans
- said that there was a “struggle for existence” a competition for finite resources
- thought that humans population catastrophe (Malthiusian catastrophe) and
blamed it on the poor
12
Q
Charles Darwin
A
- had an early fascination with nature
- he was trained as a physician but quit after one year then he went to Christ’s
college to become ordained as a priest
- gained liberal ideas and seeked to learn more about creation
- became a gentleman naturalist and quickly became good at what he did
- went on many voyages, went around the world
- he was impressed by the natural processes that altered the landscape
- discovered different fossils and noticed different variations in species
- mockingbirds of the Galápagos Islands forced Darwin to question the idea of
species creation and immutability
- when Darwin returned home after world voyage and married his cousin and had
10 children and many died at young age
- waited 20 years before publishing his ideas. He was most likely stressed out and
knew the backlash that would become of it. He seeked to reject his own
hypothesizes
- created the law of Natural Selection
13
Q
Natural Selection 4 postulates
A
- variation exists in all individuals of a population
- variation is heritable (genetic although Darwin didn’t know about genes)
- the variation leads to differences in individual fitness (survive and reproduce)
- successful variants will leave more offspring that look like them and, over
generations, the population will change.
14
Q
Evidence for natural selection
A
- geographical distribution, artificial selection by humans, vestal organs, ontogeny
and development, homology of structure.
- geographical distribution: Darwin observed mockingbirds in the Galápagos
and noticed the different mocking birds on different islands were almost the
same. They came from the same and evolved over time differently.
- artificial selection: an example is Dogs, they came from wolf and were
domesticated and changed over time by breeders picking and choosing to
make different dogs.
- vestigial organs: organs that aren’t used for anything. An example is a cave
salamander still has eyes even though it doesn’t have an optic nerve so it can’t
see.
- ontogeny and development:
- homology of structure: to evolve you can grow an organ you didn’t have in the
first place. An example would be a human can’t grow wings.
- analogous structure: a trait or organ that appears similar in two u relating
organisms. An example would be a bat wing looking the same as an eagle wing.
15
Q
4 tenets of natural selection
A
- More individuals are produced each generation that can survive.
- Phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the variation is heritable.
- Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the environment will survive.
- When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form.
