Theories of Evolution

how numerous ideas contributed to the modern theory of evolution, describe the key contributions of Buffon, Lyell, Cuvier, Darwin, Lamarck, and Wallace to the theory of evolution, explaining survival of the fittest and descent with modification, explain how paleontology, catastrophism, and uniformitarianism all influenced Darwin's theory of evolution

Charles Darwin

• father of evolution

• wrote origin of specifies

• explored many coastal regions including Galapagos

what did darwin observe during his exploration?

• plants and animals were distinct in many of the different regions the HMS Beagle visited

• fossils of extinct animals that looked similar to living animals

• animals on islands closely resembled animals on opposite coasts

• species varied slightly on similar islands

what two points did darwin conclude from his observations?

• species were not created in their present form, but evolved from ancestral species

• proposed a mechanism for evolution: natural selection

descent with modification

• darwin never used the term evolution, instead he said descent with modification

• descendants of the earliest organisms spread into different habitats over millions of years where they accumulate different adaptations

• species change overtime, give rise to new species, and descend from a common ancestor

Georges leclerc Buffon

• first noted similarities between apes and humans

• species change over time

• earth older than 6000 years old

Mary Anning and Georges Cuvier

• studied paleontology

• gave rise to the idea that each stratum had a unique group of fossils

• fossils in the lower stratum where less similar to living species

• fossils higher up are more similar to current animals

Catastrophism

• Georges Cuvier

• the earth experiences numerous distinctive natural events

Uniformitarianism

• Charles Lyell

• earth has been changed by same processes today as in the past

• geological change is slow and gradual

Thomas Malthus

proposed the human population was growing too fast to be a sustainable rate

Stephen Jay Gould

• punctuated by equilibrium

• proposed most evolution is characterized by long periods of evolutionary stability, punctuated by quick periods of branching speciation

Niles Eldredge

similar ideas to stephen jay gould

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

• Jean Lamarck (early 1800s)

• he was WRONG

• organisms have innate tendency toward complexity and perfection

• if the organism uses an organ it grows, if it doesnt the organ gets smaller

• organisms pass this trait to their offspring

Alfred Wallace

• independently described the theory of evolution

• credited with Darwin publishing his work