EXAM1 [ch. 18, 19, 20] Flashcards
(141 cards)
- broad, well supported explanation with rich predictive value
- based on natural phenomena and causes
- stands up to experimental tests
Scientific theory
- the change in organisms throughout earth’s history
- descent with modification
- a change in genetic composition of a population from generation to generation
- individuals don’t, but populations do
Evolution
Today’s life is different from and descended from earlier life
Descent with modification
- antiquity through 1600’s
- fixed ideal species
- scala naturae (ladder of nature)
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
- botanist
- orderly, nested classification system
- binomial naming
- age of reason (1700’s - 1800’s)
- Father of Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)
- geologist
- slow, continuous process ⇒ geological features
- gradualism
James Hutton (1726-1797)
- aka: Father of Geology
- uniformitarianism
- “Principles of Geology” (which was read by Darwin)
Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
- expanded off of Hutton’s ideas
- same geologic processes in past as today
- rate of change today = rate of change in the past
- thus, the earth is very old
Uniformitarianism
- wrote ideas that “forms minute” slowly acquired complexity over time
- Charles Darwin grandfather
Erasmus Darwin (late 1700’s)
- naturalist
- linked evolution to adaptation
- extinct species have been replaced by descendants with new features (these adaptations helped them survive in environment)
- Darwin agreed with these ideas
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)
an inherited feature that helps an organism’s survival and reproduction in its present environment
Adaptation
- Theory of inheritance of “acquired” characteristics through “use and disuse”
- if an organism changes during life in order to adapt to its environment, the changes are passed to its offspring
- Darwin rejected these ideas
“Lamarckism”
- 1858, wrote to Darwin with same ideas about natural selection from his work in Malay Archipelago
- presented scientific papers on natural selection with Darwin before the Linnean Society
Alfred Wallace (1823-1913)
- naturalist on HMS Beagle (1831-1836)
- travelled mostly to South America (+ Galapagos Islands)
- collected plants, wildlife, fossils
- observed species’ geographic locales and adaptations
- studied local geology
Charles Darwin exploration
- developed evolution theory
- wrote “Origin of Species” in 1859
Charles Darwin
- written by Darwin in 1859
- two main ideas: descent with modification and natural selection
“Origin of Species”
- natural selection is the mechanism for evolution
- heritable variation exists in most species
- all species produce more offspring than the environment can support (based off Mathlthus’s work)
- but, many offspring die off before maturity
[Part 2] Darwin’s Theory: natural selection
- unequal reproductive success among individuals (those with the best traits leave more offspring than others
- those heritable, favorable traits (adaptations) accumulate over vast time, matching the species to its environment
Natural selection inferences
- all present life is related through descent with modification from a common ancestor in the past
- that evolution isn’t a totally new idea
- Earth’s many species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the present-day species
[Part 1] Darwin’s Theory: Descent with modification
- individuals in a population vary in their heritable characteristics
- organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support
Darwin’s natural selection observations
- individuals that are well suited to their environment tend to leave more offspring
- over time, favorable traits accumulate in the population
Darwin’s natural selection inferences
- explains both diversity & unity of life
- accounts for much of form and function
- can predict outcome of environmental change
- genetic variation is essential/a prerequisite
Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
antibiotic-resistance in bacteria
Natural selection in action
- origin of life
- how variation works
- how inheritance works
- why variation still exists
- “sudden” changes in fossil record
- source of totally “new” characters
NOT explained in Darwin’s theory