Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
• The Galápagos
Islands
– are specks of
land
– composed of
basalt
– in the eastern
Pacific
The Galápagos Islands
Darwin Developed the Theory
• During the voyage Darwin observed
– that fossil mammals in South America
– are similar yet different from present-day
– llamas, sloths, and armadillos
– that the finches and giant tortoises living
– on the Galápagos Islands vary from island to island
– and still resemble ones from South America,
– even though they differ in subtle ways
• These observations convinced Darwin
– that organisms descended with modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past
– the central claim of the theory of evolution
Galápagos Finches
• Darwin’s finches from the Galápagos
Islands
– arranged to show evolutionary relationships
– Notice
Berry
Insect eaters eater that beak
Seed Cactus shape
eaters eaters
– varies
depending
Insect eaters
on diet
Why Study Evolution?
• Evolution
– involving inheritable changes in organisms through
time
• is fundamental to biology and paleontology
– Paleontology is the study of life history as revealed
by fossils
• Evolution is a unifying theory
• like plate tectonic theory
– that explains an otherwise
– encyclopedic collection of facts
• Evolution provides a framework
– for discussion of life history
Misconceptions about Evolution
• Many people have a poor understanding
– of the theory of evolution
– and hold a number of misconceptions,
– which include:
• evolution proceeds strictly by chance
• nothing less than fully developed structures
– such as eyes are of any use
• there are no transitional fossils
– so-called missing links
– connecting ancestors and descendants
• humans evolved from monkeys
– so monkeys should no longer exist
Evolution: Historical Background
• Evolution, the idea that today’s organisms
– have descended with modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past,
• is usually attributed solely to Charles Darwin,
– but it was seriously considered long before he was born,
– even by some ancient Greeks
– and by philosophers and theologians
• during the Middle Ages
• Nevertheless, the prevailing belief
– in the 1700s was that Genesis and the works of Aristotle
– explained the origin of life
– and contrary views were heresy
Evolution: Historical Background
• During the 18th century,
– naturalists were discovering evidence
– that could not be reconciled
– with literal reading of the Bible
• In this changing intellectual atmosphere,
– scientists gradually accepted a number of ideas:
• the principle of uniformitarianism,
• Earth’s great age,
• that many types of plants and animals had become extinct,
• and that change from one species to another occurred
• What was lacking, though,
– was a theoretical framework to explain evolution
Lamarck
• Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
– (1744-1829) is best remembered for his theory
– of inheritance of acquired characteristics,
– even though he greatly contributed
– to our understanding of the natural world
• According to this theory,
– new traits arise in organisms because of their needs
– and are somehow passed on to their descendants
• Lamarck’s theory seemed logical at the time
Lamarck’s Theory
– because
ancestors
with longer
necks
– had an
advantage
– and
reproduced
more often
“Survival of the Fittest”
• In colloquial usage,
– natural selection is sometimes expressed as
– “survival of the fittest”
• This is misleading because
– natural selection is not simply a matter of survival
– but involves differential rates
– of survival and reproduction
Not only Biggest,
Strongest, Fastest
• One misconception about natural selection
– is that among animals
– only the biggest, strongest, and fastest
– are likely to survive
– These characteristics might provide an advantage
• but natural selection may favor
– the smallest if resources are limited
– the most easily concealed
– those that adapt most readily to a new food source
– those having the ability to detoxify some substance
– and so on...
Limits of Natural Selection
• Once an egg
– has been fertilized,
– the developing embryo
– grows by mitosis
Modern View of Evolution
• During the 1930s and 1940s,
– paleontologists, population biologists,
– geneticists, and others developed ideas that
– merged to form a modern synthesis
– or neo-Darwinian view of evolution
• They incorporated
– chromosome theory of inheritance
– into evolutionary thinking
• They saw changes in genes (mutations)
– as one source of variation
Modern View of Evolution
• They completely rejected Lamarck’s idea
– of inheritance of acquired characteristics
• They reaffirmed the importance of natural
selection
• But since then,
– some scientists have challenged the emphasis
– in modern synthesis
– that evolution is gradual
What Brings about Variation?
• Evolution by natural selection
– works on variation in populations
– most of which is accounted for by the reshuffling
– of genes from generation to generation
– during sexual reproduction
• The potential for variation is enormous
– with thousands of genes
– each with several alleles,
– and with offspring receiving 1/2 of their genes
– from each parent
• New variations arise by mutations
– change in the chromosomes or genes
Mutations
• Mutations result in a change
– in hereditary information
• Mutations that take place in sex cells
– are inheritable,
– whether they are chromosomal mutations
• affecting a large segment of a chromosome
– or point mutations
• individual changes in particular genes
• Mutations are random with respect to fitness
– they may be beneficial, neutral, or harmful
Mutations
• Parallel evolution
– involves the independent
origin
– of similar features in related
organisms
Microevolution and Macroevolution
• Microevolution is any change in the
– the genetic make-up of a species, and
– involves changes within a species
• Macroevolution involves changes
– such as the origin of a new species
– or changes at even higher levels
– For example, the origin of birds from reptiles
• The cumulative effects of microevolution
– are responsible for macroevolution
Cladistics and Cladograms
• Traditionally, scientists have
– depicted evolutionary relationships
– with phylogenetic trees
• in which the horizontal axis represents
• anatomical differences
• and the vertical axis denotes time
• In contrast, a cladogram shows
– the relationships among members of a clade
• a group of organisms
• including its most recent common ancestor
• Cladistics focus on derived characteristics
• sometimes called evolutionary novelties
– as opposed to primitive characteristics
Phylogenetic Tree
• A phylogenetic tree
– showing the
relationships
– among various
vertebrate animals
Cladogram
• A cladogram showing inferred relationships
• Some of the characteristics used
– to construct this cladogram are indicated
Evolutionary Novelties
• All land-dwelling vertebrate animals
– possess bone and paired limbs
– so these characteristics are primitive
– and of little use in establishing relationships
– among land vertebrates
• However, hair and three middle ear bones
– are derived characteristics
– because only one subclade, the mammals, has them
Evolutionary Novelties
Least inclusive
Classification —shared Characteristics
• Subphylum
vertebrata
– including
fishes,
amphibians,
reptiles, birds
and mammals,
– have a
segmented
vertebral
column
• Only warm-
blooded
animals with
hair/fur and
mammary
glands are
mammals
Coyote, Canis latrans
• 18 orders of
mammals exist
including order
Carnivora
• The Family
Canidae are
doglike
carnivores
• and the genus
Canis includes
only closely
related species
• Coyote, Canis
latrans, stands
alone as a
species
Coyote and Wolf
• Coyote (Canis latrans) and wolf (Canis lupus)
– share numerous characteristics
– as members of the same genus
• They share some but fewer characteristics
– with the red fox (Volpes fulva)
– in the family Canidae
• All canids share some characteristics with cats,
– Bears, and weasels in the order Carnivora
– which is one of 18 living orders
– of the class Mammalia
• Shared characteristics
– are evidence for evolutionary relationships
Biological Evidence
Supporting Evolution
• If all existing organisms descended with
modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past,
• all life forms should have fundamental
similarities:
– all living things consist mainly of carbon, nitrogen
hydrogen and oxygen
– their chromosomes consist of DNA
– all cells synthesize proteins
• in essentially the same way
Evolutionary Relationships
• Biochemistry provides evidence
– for evolutionary relationships
• Blood proteins are similar among all mammals
– Humans’ blood chemistry is related
• most closely to the great apes
• then to Old World monkeys
• then New World monkeys
• then lower primates such as lemurs
• Biochemical test support the idea
– that birds descended from reptiles
• a conclusion supported by evidence in the fossil record
Structures with Similarities
• Homologous structures
– are basically similar structures
– that have been modified for different functions
– They indicate derivation from a common ancestor.
• Analogous structures are structures
– with similarities unrelated
– to evolutionary relationships
– that serve the same function
– but are quite dissimilar
– in both structure and development
Homologous Structures
• Forelimbs of humans, whales, dogs, and birds
– are superficially dissimilar,
– yet all are made up of the same bones,
– have similar
arrangement
– of muscles,
nerves and
blood
vessels,
– are similarly
arranged with respect to other structures,
– have similar pattern of embryonic development
Analogous Structures