Theory of Evolution

• Abiogenesis: Non-Living material

can produce life.
• Biogenesis: Living organisms
come only from other living
organisms.
• Archaebacteria: Chemosynthetic
prokaryotes that live in harsh
environments such as deep sea
vents and hot springs.
– Hot Spring:
Yellowstone
National
Park
Spontaneous Generation
Experiment (Abiotic)
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/M/Miller.gif
 Scientists and Experiments
• Francesco Redi: Disproved that meat
produced maggots by putting meat in a jar
and covering it with cheese cloth.
• Louis Pasteur: Proved that microorganisms
such as bacteria did not just arise from air-
the final experiment in disproving
spontaneous generation.
• Alexander Oparin: Hypothesized that life
began in the oceans. He said that the sun,
lightning, rain, and various chemicals came
together to form the first life forms.
• A theory is a hypothesis that has been
tested again and again, the results of the
studies only support the hypothesis- they
never refute it.
– Scientific Theories:
• DNA structure (Watson and Crick)
• Round Earth
• Evolution of Species
• Plate Tectonics
• Relativity
 Evolution

• Evolution is the change in species over time.

• Species are groups of organisms that can
successfully interbreed.
• Scientists study fossils in order to determine the
history of species.
– Fossils are preserved remnants
of a dead organism.
 Darwin
• Sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle as a naturalist
studying plants and animals
• He noticed:
– That very similar species on different close-
by islands had varying traits.
»Geographic Isolation
– Plants and animals are well suited for their
environment
– Those that are well adapted survive to
produce offspring.
– He realized: Animals
living on different
islands had once
been members of
the same species.
– These animals had
adapted to different
situations.
Galapagos Islands:
– Darwin studied beaks of finches
 Darwin
His theory of Natural Selection
stemmed from two ideas:
– Organisms usually produce more
than enough (sometimes even
way too many) offspring http://www.karthikram.org/files/images/natural%20selection.jpg

– All individuals are different in

certain ways (genetic variation).
 Darwin’s Theory of Natural
Selection
• Individuals better adapted (to escape,
obtain food, hide etc.) are more likely
to survive.
• Traits of surviving organisms
will be passed on to the next
generation, and the species will
evolve
– “Survival of the
Fittest”….does this mean the
strongest????
 Natural Selection
• Evidence of Natural Selection
– Adaptation: inherited characteristic
that increases an organism’s chance
of survival
– Predator-Prey relationships
• Camouflage The Mimic Octopus (All Three Pictures!!)
• Mimicry Mimics: flatfish, sea snakes, jawfish, mantis
shrimp, lionfish and others!
Natural Selection
Structural Adaptations
•Long necks in a giraffe
•Webbed feet in a duck and
turtle
Evolution by Natural Selection
– Many organisms struggle for existence in the
wild– Species compete for resources
 Evolution by Natural Selection
– Decent with
modification – all living
species have
descended (with
changes) from other
species.
 Evolution by Natural Selection
• Mutations provide variation
• When mutations are beneficial the
organism is more likely to survive and
reproduce.
– Ex: pesticide resistant insects
 Evidence of Evolution
• Fossils
–Recent fossils never found in old
rock layers.
–Ancient fossils are never found
in new rock layers.
 Evidence of Evolution
• Biochemistry:
–DNA Codons alike throughout all life
forms.
–DNA sequences differ depending on
evolutionary relationships.
 Evidence of Evolution

Natural Selection
– Adaptation: inherited characteristic
that increases an organism’s chance
of survival
– Predator-Prey relationships
• Camouflage The Mimic Octopus (All Three Pictures!!)
• Mimicry Mimics: flatfish, sea snakes, jawfish, mantis
shrimp, lionfish and others!
 Scientists and Experiments
• Miller and Urey: Devised an
apparatus and process by which
life molecules such as amino
acids and sugars could be
produced from ammonia,
methane, hydrogen, and water
vapor when electricity simulating
lightning was introduced.
• Lynn Margulis: Responsible for
the endosymbiant theory which
proposes that eukaryotic cells
probably evolved from
prokaryotic cells.
 Population Genetics

• If the allele frequency

doesn’t change over
time, the population is at
genetic equilibrium.
 Evolution vs Genetic Equilibrium
• 5 Conditions Required to maintain
equilibrium
1. Random Mating
2. Large Population
3. No movement in or out of population
4. No mutations
5. No Natural Selection
 Population Genetics
• Gene flow: When alleles are brought in
and out of a population due to
migration of individuals.
 Population Genetics
• Genetic Drift: When isolated
chance events alter gene
frequencies in a population
– Disrupts genetic equilibrium
– Common in small isolated
populations such as the Amish of
Lancaster, PA.
– Darwin’s finches (perhaps).
Sources of Genetic Variation
• Mutations
• Gene Shuffling
• Single gene/Polygenic Traits
 Population Genetics

• Artificial Selection:
Selection for traits that are
determined and monitored
by man.
– Ex. Breeding animals such as
dogs or cats.
• Sexual Selection:
Selection by one gender
for another gender.
– Ex. Peacock feathers, body
hair disappearance in
humans, walrus tusks.
 Process of speciation
• Speciation:
changes leading to
formation of a
new species
– This means that the
individuals in the new
species can no longer
produce successful
offspring with the
population from which
they came.
Isolating Mechanisms/Causes of
Speciation
• Geographic Isolation
• Reproductive Isolation
• Behavioral Isolation
• Chromosome Changes
 Speciation
Geographic Isolation: When two
populations are separated by
geographic barriers.
– Ex: rivers, mountains, bodies
of water
• The separated organisms are
adapting to different
environments and responding
differently.
– Eventually if a mating is attempted,
they can no longer produce
successful offspring with one
another.
 Speciation
• Reproductive Isolation: when two or more
species reproduce at different times.
– Leads to the species not being able to
interbred
– Ex. One group breeds
in the fall, one in the
spring and over time
the populations become
new species incapable
of interbreeding.
 Speciation
•Behavioral Isolation: When two populations
are capable of interbreeding, but have
differences in courtship rituals or other
reproductive strategies that involve behavior.
•Ex: Using different songs to attract mates.

Eastern V/S Western

Meadowlarks
 Speciation
• Chromosomal Changes: Changes in
chromosome number
– Some cases of polyploidy (more
common in plants) produce
individuals that can only mate with
other polyploids in a pop.
 Patterns of Evolution
• Adaptive Radiation: When an ancestral
species evolves into several different
species, each filling a specific niche.
– Darwin’s finches
– Dinosaurs: From ancient reptiles
– Mammals: Diversity during the Cenozoic
http://www.biology-online.org/images/darwin_finches.jpg
 Patterns of Evolution
• Divergent Evolution: Species that
once were similar or closely
related become very different.
– New Species are very different
from each other.
– Ex. Adaptive Radiation
 Patterns of Evolution
• Convergent Evolution:
Unrelated species that live
in similar environments
evolve the same
adaptations in order to
survive resemble each
other.
– Ex. Dolphin, Shark, Penguin
– Unrelated species of cacti.
 Patterns of Evolution
•Coevolution: The process by which two
species evolve in response to changes in each
other over time. Evolve together!!!
•Ex: Plants and their specific pollinators

Hawk Moth of
Madagascar

Madagascar Orchid
 Patterns of Evolution
•Extinction: Disappearance of a species.
•99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct
•Due to: competition for resources and environmental
changes
•Mass Extinctions have occurred several times in Earth’s
history