Pre-Darwinian Ideas

• Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.): saw evidence of

natural affinities: “organisms moving toward a
Introduction to more perfect state”

Darwinian Evolution • Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): interpreted fossil

rocks as remains of extinct animals

• Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744–1829)

• First to propose that organisms undergo change over
Chapter 18 time as a result of natural phenomenon

• Lamarck ideas discredited when Mendelian genetics

theories rediscovered around 1900

Defining Evolution Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Evolution • Son of a prominent physician
• Accumulation of inherited changes within populations over time.
Changes in the characteristics of populations over the course of
generations
• Studied theology at
Population Cambridge U.
• Group of individuals of one species that live in the same geographic
area at the same time
• Interested in natural world
Species
• Group of organisms with similar structure, function, and behavior
capable of interbreeding
• Embarked on the HMS
• Evolution is a unifying concept of biology suggesting that all species Beagle, a 5-
5-year exploratory
currently living evolved from a single ancestor cruise around the world to
• Evolution has 2 aspects: microevolution and macroevolution prepare navigation charts for
the British Navy

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 Voyage of HMS Beagle Variation within a Species

• Artificial selection of
Brassica oleracea:
oleracea:
cabbage, broccoloi,
cauliflower…
cauliflower…etc.

• The voyage is the Basis for Darwin’s theory of evolution

• Darwin observed similarities between animals and plants
• Compared biodiversity of Arid Galapagos Islands and
Humid South American mainland

Darwinism: forming the theory Adaptation

• Influenced by geologist Charles Lyell that Earth
is constantly undergoing slow geological activity
and that it was extremely old
• Influenced by farmers who can produce a variety
of domesticated plants and animals within few
generations: artificial selection
• Applied by clergyman/economist Thomas
Malthus’
Malthus’s: Population growth faster than food
supply growth leading to conflicts that limit
population growth
• Darwin Concluded from Malthus that inherited
variations favorable to survival tend to be preserved,
preserved,
whereas unfavorable ones would be eliminated
• Adaptation is an evolutionary modification that
improves chances of survival. This could be
achieved on Earth based on Lyell ideas.
• Better-
Better-adapted organisms and their traits are more
likely to survive and reproduce: Natural Selection
• Based 1859 Darwin’
Darwin’s Book “On the Origin of
Species by Natural Selection”
Selection” Genetic variation
supported by Wallace’
Wallace’s 1870 Book “Contributions to
the Theory of Natural Selection”
Selection”.

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 4 Premises of Evolution
Galapagos Diverged Finches
by Natural Selection
• Variation:
Variation: exists among
individuals in a population:
linked it to inheritance but
without understanding the
mechanism

• OverReproduction:
OverReproduction: (a)
Produce more than can
survive; (b) populations
grow exponentially 4. Differential Reproductive
Success:
Success: Best adapted individuals
• Struggle for existence:
existence: will survive and reproduce
Limited resources successfully. Less-
Less-well adapted 1970s P & R. Grant Studies on Galapagos Finshes:
compared to population subjects will die with their traits. Variation in their beaks is the result of adaptation to
growth
different kinds of food.

Natural Selection & Speciation Modern Synthesis

• Over time accumulated changes in geographically Synthetic theory of evolution:
separated populations produce new species. • Began in 1930s and 1940s

• Combines principles of Mendelian inheritance and

• Darwin noted that Galapagos islands have evolved Darwinian natural selection
this way: a single common ancestor from the South
American mainland found its way into the islands • Mutation provides genetic variability on which natural
which increased in number.
number. selection acts

• The isolated islands along with changes in the
environmental conditions diverged the ancestor into
different species.
• Incorporates expanding knowledge in genetics,
systematics, and other scientific fields
• Scientists are now trying to understand the combined
effect of Chance and Natural Selection on evolution

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 Evidence of Evolution: Fossils
Fossil Record Petrified trees

• Remains or traces of ancient organisms 2 M years

Insect in
Amber
• Found in Sedimentary rock

• Layers occur in sequence of deposition where recent

layers on top of older ones

• Direct evidence of evolution comes from fossils Dinosaur’s

footprint

• Evidence shows progression from earliest unicellular

organisms to organisms of today Transitional Whale Evolution
Ancient echinoderms
• Shows life has evolved through time

Fossil Record Determining the Age of Fossils

• Few organisms that die Index Fossils
become fossils
• Geologists identify specific sedimentary
Sedimentary Rock rocks by their position and mineral
• Occurs when an organism’
organism’s content.
remains are covered with
• Index fossils characterize a specific
sediment of fine soil particle layer over a large geographic area
in water.
Radioisotope Decay

• Remains then harden and • Radioactive elements decay with a

minerals replace remains specific half-life
showing details of structure • Carbon 14 to Carbon 12 ratio is the
same in atmosphere and organisms,
decay is constant
• More records in aquatic
organisms: bias • Carbon 14 used to estimate age of
fossils

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 Evidence for evolution from Convergent evolution: mammals who eat ants and termites

comparative anatomy Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata)

Homologous Features
• Basic structural
similarities

• Derived from same

structure in
common ancestor

• Indicate organism’
organism’s Giant anteater
evolutionary
affinities

Example limb bones of mammals: humans, cats, whales, all have

striking similarity in bone arrangement although have different
locomotion modes

Comparative Anatomy (cont.) Biogeography

Homoplastic Features
• Evolved independently
• Similar functions in distantly related organisms
• Demonstrate convergent evolution
• organisms with separate ancestries adapt
similarly to comparable environments
Vestigial Structures
• Nonfunctional or degenerate remnants of
structures functional in ancestral organisms
• Structures occasionally become vestigial as
species adapt to different modes of life
• Example: molar teeth in humans
• Biogeography is the study of past and present geographic
distribution of organisms
• Darwin was interested in biogeography and why species in
ocean resemble those in nearest mainland
• Darwin concluded that species from neighboring continent
migrated to islands where they adapted to new isolated
environment and evolved separately
• In 1915 Wegener postulated that all the continents were part
of one landmass, that he called Pangaea, which separated by
a Continental Drift
• Continental drift has played a major role in evolution by
affecting climate and ocean and atmospheric currents
• Areas separated from the rest of the world contain organisms
evolved in isolation, are unique to those areas

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 Continental Drift Establishing Phylogenies

• Phylogeny:
Phylogeny: Evolutionary
history of group of related
species

• Phylogenetic trees:
trees: Diagrams
showing lines of descent based
on molecular data analysis and
• Earth crust is composed of 7 large
DNA Sequencing and other
plates that float on the Mantle. characteristics
• Continents are sitting on these
plates •This diagram shows that
whales should be classified
• Plates mouvement is called Plate
Tectonics with artiodactyls, with close
relatiohship to hippopotamuses

Evolutionary Changes Calibrating Molecular Clocks

• Evolutionary changes result of gene mutations that affect • A molecular clock is a

events in development gene used to estimate
the time of divergence
between closely related
Evidence for evolution from developmental biology: species

• The Genetic code is universal • Molecular clocks help to

establish phylogeny
• Proteins and DNA contain record of evolutionary change:
conserved sequences of AA and nucleotides
• Scientists consider
molecular clocks that
are based on several
• Changes at the AA sequence and DNA sequence
records time of divergence genes to be more
accurate
The clock is calibrated by
comparing the number of
nucleotide the differ between
the species with the dates of
evolutionary branch points
known from fossil records

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 Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses:
Reznick and Endler
• Studied effects of
predation intensity
on evolution of
guppy populations
in laboratory and
nature

• Predation patterns
affected evoluation
of the guppy pray