Lecture 3: History of Evolution Thought after Darwin

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

an english physician, philosopher and Darwin’s grandfather

proposed the idea of evolutionary change in his book “Zoonomia” in 1796

said that all life developed from a ‘single living filament’

hypothesized the man had once walked on all 4 linbs and had descended from primate

wrote about the struggle for existence

was supporter of Lamarckism

Robert Chambers (1802-1871)

Scottish geologist

published ‘vestiges of the Natural History of Creation” in 1845

highlighted that species composition has changed over time and that change is slow, gradual, and unlinked to catastrophes

hypothesized that new species developed from existing ones

thought in terms of populations not individuals

no real explanation of how this might happen

Patrick Matthew (1790-1874)

Scottish grain merchant and forester

published “Naval Timber and Arborculture” in 1832

understood that individuals best suited to thier environment would be selected over others

he called it “The Circumstance-adaptive Law'“

even earlier, others recognized patterns related to natural selection

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

English naturalist

briefly studied medicine then studied for. acareer in the clergy

served as a naturalist on the HMS Beagle tasked with charting the coast of South America (1831-1836) and included visiting the Galapagos Islands

gathered data throughout voyage on a variety of species

used pigeons to explain artificial selection

Alfrered Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

an English naturalist and explorer

independently concieved of natural selection

collected specimens from the Malay archipelago

“the Father of Zogeography”

known for Wallace’s line

August Weismann (1834-1914)

German evolutionary biologist

in response to Neo-Lamarcksim he experimentally demonstrated that acquired traits could not be inherited by cutting of the trails of mice

contributed the ‘Theory of German Plasm’ were by inheritance in a multicellular animal only takes place by all means of germ cells

somatic cells vs gametes

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)

an English economist

argued that humans population increase was greater than the increase in the food supply, and that unchecked population growth would lead to famine

Darwin recognized that Malthus’ argument also applies to animals as well as humans

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)

an Augustinian monk and plant breeder

reound that inhereted factors come from both parents

worked extensively on pea plants

coined the terms dominant and recessive in relation to traits

his published worked were largely unnoticed until they were rediscovered independently by 3 scientist

the Founder of Modern Genetics

debates about mechanisms of hereditary between: Mendelians and Biometricicans

The Modern Synthesis

AKA “Evolutionary Synthesis”

reconciled Darwin’sTheory with the mendelian genetics

3 scientists: Ronald Fischer (1890-1962), Sewell Wright (1889-1988), J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964)

natural selection acting on Mendelian genetic variation

experimental work in genetics and mathematical population genetics

evolutionary process lead to changes in gene frequnecies that map onto changed in phenotypes

sometimes called Neo-Darwinsim

Julian Huxley (1887-1975)

Coined the name “The Modern Synthesis”

Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975)

evolutionary genetics

George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984)

mammal evolution

Ernst Mayr (1904-2005)

biologist species concept

G. Ledyard Stebbins (1906-2000)

plant genetics

Mootoo Kimura (1924-1994)

a japanese biologist

known for the ‘Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution’ (1968)

most genetic changes at the molecular level are driven by random genetic drift of mutant alleles that are neutral to fitness, rather than by natural selection