2/26/14

Objective: Who was Charles Darwin and how is he important to the theory of evolution?

Evolution

• Genetic change in a population or species over generations

Creationism

• Book of Genesis– All species were individually designed by a

creator– Earth is about 6000 years old

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/e_s_7.html

Scopes

• Scopes Monkey Trial

• High school teacher accused of teaching evolution

Aristotle

• Believed in spontaneous generation• Species are fixed/permanent and do not

evolve

Buffon

• Studied fossils and suggested Earth is much older than 6000 years

Contributions to the Theory of Evolution

• Charles Lyell (influenced Darwin)GeologistMaterial forces Gradually change Earth’s

surface

Contributions to the Theory of Evolution

• Jean Baptiste Lamarck:Used fossils to determine that life evolvedThought that using or not using body parts

develops traits that are passed to offspring (wrong!)

Contributions to the Theory of Evolution

• Charles Darwin: “Father of Evolution”HMS Beagle (1831)

- A surveying ship that traveled around the S. American coastline

- Darwin collected fossils, living plants and animals

Contributions to the Theory of Evolution

Galapagos Islands- Darwin noted unique organisms on each island, similar but different from the mainland.

On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection

• Book written by Darwin that explains ways organisms become adapted to their environment

2 Features of Darwin’s Theory

1. Descent with Modification: Diverse forms of life have arisen from ancestral species (accumulating different modifications)

2. Natural Selection: the mechanism of evolution, those species with the best traits will survive and reproduce.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/11/2/e_s_2.html

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.evo.becfossil/ (2m 34s)

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.evo.fishfingers/ (3 m 48 s)

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.evo.howhappens/ (7 m)