the pre-darwinian standard western world view earth is young (6000 years) earth is unchanged creator...
TRANSCRIPT
The Pre-Darwinian Standard Western World View
• Earth is young (6000 years)• Earth is unchanged• Creator (Great Engineer) designed organisms ‘wisely’• Different species exist because of different functions & local ecological conditions
Pre-Darwinian Challenges to the Classical View• Stratigraphy suggests an old, changeable earth• Fossil organisms provide evidence that species have disappeared from their former ranges• Some organisms must have become extinct everywhere• Many more organisms exist than were known in the classical world• Organisms can be classified by anatomical & developmental resemblances that transcend function or ecology
Voyage of the Beagle1831-1836
Darwin learned during his trip• Geological change uniformitarian (same processes acting today
account for the past)• Faunas are regional (South America different from Old World tropics)• Extinct faunas resemble living regional faunas• Nearby, similar islands have different species
After returning, Darwin learned
• Organisms produce many, many, many more offspring than survive
• It is easy to modify organisms by artificial selection - variation is heritable
Darwin after the Voyage of the Beagle
Darwin’s Theory of EvolutionDescent With Modification
• Fertility is so high that populations would increase exponentially if all offspring survived
• Most species have stable numbers
• Natural resources are finite / limited
• Therefore, there is a struggle for existence, and only a fraction of offspring survive.
• Individuals in a population differ; no two are exactly alike
• Much of the variation is heritable
• Survival in the struggle for existence is not random, but tends toward those that have inherited favorable variations
• Therefore, the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce leads to gradual change in a population, with favorable characteristics increasing in frequency
Darwin’s Theory of EvolutionDescent With Modification
Darwin’s Main Points in the Origin of Species
• Species evolve into new species gradually over time
• All species share one (or a few) common ancestor
• Natural selection is the mechanism by which new species evolve (Darwin’s Theory)
Who are the fittest?
Those individuals that produces the most offspring that survive to reproduction
Mayfly: short life, high fecundity
Sequ
oia:
long
life
, low
fecu
ndit
y
Where is the Evidence?
• Biogeography• Fossil record• Taxonomy• Comparative anatomy• Comparative embryology
• Molecular Biology
Sunbird: Old W
orldH
umm
ingbird: New
World
Darwin’s
Now
human...GTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATTCCAGCTCCAAT...
yeast ...GTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATTCCAGCTCCAAT...
corn...GTGCCAGCAGCCGCGGTAATTCCAGCTCCAAT...
Genetic HomologyA striking confirmation of evolutionary theory
Alfred Russel Wallace1823-1913
Independently derived the theory of evolution by natural selection
Evolution is a Fact!
Natural Selection is a (well-supported) Theory to Explain this
Fact!