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Define Biological Evolution
Any process by which populations of organisms change over time.
Gene Flow
Any change in the inherited traits of a population that occurs from one generation to the next.
Evolution
Change within a lineage due to natural selection and other mechanisms.
Natural Selection
the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Genetic Drift
A change in the allele frequency of a population as a result of chance events rather than natural selection.
Lineage
Group that has the same common ancestor
Phylogeny
The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species
Homoplasy
A character state similarity not due to shared descent
Synapomorphy
A heritable aspect of organisms that can be compared across taxa
What are whales related to?
Hippos
What happened to whales hind legs?
The loss of limbs in whales resulted from the transition from land to water
How did whales end up looking so much like fish?
Their body shape adapted for efficient swimming in aquatic environments
How do we know whales are mammals?
Whales share synapomorphies with mammals
Mammary glands
Three middle ear bones
Hair (in developing embryos)
Similarities with fish arose through convergent evolution
Convergent Evolution
Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments
What lines of evidence document transition from land to water?
Fossil analysis of hindlimb loss
Isotopic analysis of fossil teeth
Embryonic analysis linked to gene expression
Whale brain size and complexity?
Evolution of large brains through:
Formation of lasting alliances
Competition for mates
Complex communication
What is an important insight from Darwin's theory?
All living things are related.
What metaphor did Darwin use to explain the relationships among living things?
Tree of life.
What does Darwin's theory explain?
The origin of biodiversity.
What did Darwin combine with his ideas?
The work of many others.
The great chain of being
European idea that every species was a link on a chain extending from lowest forms to humans and on to spiritual beings. All links and been designed at the same time during creation and would never change. Once all the links were discovered and described, the meaning of life would be revealed.
Carolus Linnaeus
(1707
This geologist organized rock strata into a geological history by using fossils.
William Smith
Natural Theology
complexity is viewed as evidence of design
This geologist proposed that Earth was shaped through imperceptibly slow changes.
James Hutton
Who is Georges Buffon?
A French naturalist known for his work in natural history.
What did Georges Buffon propose about the age of the Earth?
He calculated that the Earth was at least 70,000 years old.
According to Georges Buffon, how did life emerge?
Life emerged as distinct types and transformed when the environment changed.
What laws did Georges Buffon believe governed the formation of the Earth?
He believed the Earth formed according to the laws of physics and chemistry.
This naturalist discovered there were species that no longer existed
Georges Cuvier
This early naturalist believed species could develop variations in traits in new environments.
Georges
This naturalist developed a classification system to organize organisms into taxa
Carolus Linnaeus
This naturalist recognized that triangular rocks found at the top of certain mountains were fossils of teeth from sharks, which pioneered the field of stratigraphy
Nicolaus Steno
Jean
Baptiste Lamarck theory
Lamarck
Complex species (including humans) descended from microbes
Microbes are continually generated spontaneously
Adaptation occurs through inheritance of acquired changes
Uniformitarism
observable natural processes today were responsible for events in the past
Alfred Russel Wallace
Collected plants and animals in South America and the Malay Archipelago
Made observations of biological diversity
Proposed similar evolutionary ideas:
ā¢ Common ancestry
ā¢ Natural selection
Who's theory is widely accepted as the best explanation for the diversity of life?
Darwin
This naturalist compared elephant fossils to the skeletons of living elephants from Africa and India, which helped establish that many fossils were remains of extinct species
Georges Cuvier
This naturalist discovered spectacular fossils of marine reptiles and other strange animals, which supported the idea that species do become extinct
Mary Anning
What can fossils reveal about extinct species?
Morphology
Behavior
Development
Nutrition
Age
This naturalist believed that Earth was slowly and perpetually being formed by gradual transformations of landscapes, which contributed to the understanding of Earth's age
James Hutton
This naturalist realized that specific rock layers contain a unique set of fossils, which led to the creation of a geological map of strata organized from oldest to youngest
William Smith
Georges Buffon
Earth is very old, and life has gradually changed during its history
James Hutton
Rocks undergo cycles of slow and predictable destruction and formation
Georges Cuvier
Many fossils are the remains of extinct species
Jean
Baptiste Lamarck
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
Traits evolve within populations by the influence of environmental conditions
How did Thomas Malthus influence the development of evolutionary theory?
Malthus contributed the idea that population growth in humans can be limited by the supply of resources
What alternative explanation to natural theology makes the most sense?
Natural selection produces the appearance of design because having a rudimentary eye is better than having no eye at all.
The "Great Chain of Being," as originally developed by the ancient Greeks, was adapted by many scholars in the 1600s to 1700s and came to be known as
Natural theology
Linnaeus
rejected evolutionary change but accepted creationism.
Darwin chose just two books to take with him on the voyage of the Beagle. One was the Bible, and the other was
Charles Lyell's The Principle of Geology
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