Lecture Notes: GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 GRSHS-X

Unit 5 Diversity of Life: Evolution Essentials of Biological Science

The central ideas of evolution are that life has a history

—it has changed over time—and that different species share
common ancestors.
A. ORIGIN OF LIFE
In the 1920’s, biologists proposed a hypothesis on the probable origin of life. It consisted of two
ideas:
1. that the atmosphere of early Earth must have contained ,methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3),
Hydrogen (H2) and water vapor;
2. that the chemical reactions in said mixture of gases must have produced organic molecules, and
this could have given rise to the first living cells.

B. GEOLOGY AND GEOLOGIC TIME

 Geology is the study of planet earth: its origin, history, structure and composition.
 Geography is the group of sciences dealing with the surface of the earth, including its
surface features, the distribution of living things on it, and other aspects.
 Biogeography is the area of geography concerned with the distribution of plant life
(flora) and animal life (fauna). Thus, it links geography with biology.
 Paleontology is the area of geology concerned with ancient life. Thus, it links geology
with biology. It is based on the study of the remains of ancient life, or fossils.

Scientist are convinced that changes in the physical environment have favored the
appearance , disappearance, increase or decrease of certain species.

B.1 Fossils
Fossils are remains or traces of ancient organisms that lived in the past. “Traces”
include footprints, burrows, tools (of humans) and other evidences of the
existence of ancient organisms.
“Remains” include body parts or entire bodies that have been preserved.
B.1.2 Some remains have been petrified or fossilized:
1. certain minerals (silica and calcite) from groundwater may have
filled up the pore spaces of the hard body parts.
2. hard body parts get dissolved and become replace by minerals. The
fossil has lost all of its original substance, only its original form.
3. less common are whole organisms preserved in a medium.
Examples are wooly mammoth preserved in permafrost and insects
in amber. Amber is a hard yellowish to brownish translucent fossil
resin.
B.2 Geologic Time Scale
It is a tabular presentation of the history of life based on geologists’ study of rocks
and the fossils they contain. All the pieces of information about Earth are arranged
chronologically from the oldest to the most recent. Geologic time scale is read
from the bottom upward.

B.3 Components of Geologic Time Scale

1. The first column give the major division of time (eras) from the oldest to
the most recent: Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic.
2. The second column gives the divisions of an era (the periods).
3. The third column (duration) gives us an idea of approximately how long
the periods lasted.
4. The fourth column gives the major geologic events or changes that
characterize the different periods, as deduced form geologic features of
rock layers and the fossils found in them.
Lecture Notes: GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 GRSHS-X
Unit 5 Diversity of Life: Evolution Essentials of Biological Science

5. The fifth column gives the forms of life found in the rock layers as
revealed by fossil record.

C. EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION
Evolution is a biological phenomenon that involves changes in a species over time.

C.1 Evidences from fossil record

1. The remains of ancient life found in the oldest rocks are fewer and more primitive
than those found in younger rocks. This tells us that very simple forms of life lived in
the past and, over millions of years, probably gave rise to many kinds of organisms
with more complex body structures.
2. The remains of many ancient plants and animals show structural similarities to
certain organisms that live today, although none is exactly the same as the living
species. This imply that ancestral forms gradually evolved over millions of years and
gave rise to offspring that are no longer exactly like themselves.

C.2 Evidences from Variation

Variation refers to the existence of different varieties within a species. The principle of
variation implies evolution from common ancestor.

C.3 Evidences from Similarities in Developmental Changes

This is about the series of changes in body structure that an animal goes through from an
egg to adult. Scientist believe that organisms which undergo similar developmental
changes have close evolutionary ties. The comparison of structures that appear during the
development of different organisms is called comparative embryology.

C.4 Evidences from Similarities in Structure

Scientist believe that organisms which have very similar structures have very close
evolutionary ties. Structures that are similar because of common ancestry are known as
homologous structures. The comparison of body structures between different species is
called comparative anatomy.

C.5 Evidences from Molecular Biology

Evolutionary relationships among species leave signs in DNA and proteins in gene and
gene products. This tells us that the genetic language has been passed along through all
branches of evolution.

D. NATURAL SELECTION AND ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION

D.1 Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
1. All species tend to produce excessive numbers of offspring.
2. Variation among individuals of a population.

His conclusions: Individuals whose inherited traits are best suited to the local
environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.

His observations:
1. Overproduction. This overproduction makes a struggle for existence
among individuals inevitable.
2. Individual variation. Individuals in a population vary in many heritable
traits.
Lecture Notes: GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 GRSHS-X
Unit 5 Diversity of Life: Evolution Essentials of Biological Science

E. DEVELOPING A THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Charles Robert Darwin, an Englishman set sail on Beagle for a cruise around the world.
Darwin was well educated and had strong interest in natural history. Over five years, the Beagle
took Darwin to several continents and many remote islands. At each new place, he collected
animal and plant specimens. At sea, Darwin examined his specimens and filled notebooks with
his thoughts and observations. Throughout the voyage, Darwin witnessed countless wonders of
nature for which his bright young mind demanded an explanation.
In 1859, nearly 30 years after he began his voyage on the Beagle, Darwin published his
explanations in a book called The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Evolution is
a long, slow process of change in species over time. Darwin argued that each species has
descended from other species overtime, Darwin called this principle common descent. Darwin
also argued that fitness arises through a process called adaptation. Successful adaptations enable
organisms to become better suited to their environment, better able to survive and reproduce.

F. AN EARLY EXPLANATION FOR EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck was among the first scientist to recognize that living things change
over time. And long before Darwin, Lamarck also realized that organisms were somehow adapted to
their environments. Lamarck’s three assumptions:
1. A Desire to Change. Lamarck thought that an organisms change because they
have an inborn urge to better themselves and become more fit for their
environments.
2. Use and Disuse. Lamarck believed that change occurred because organisms could
alter their shape by using their bodies. However, if animal did not use a particular
body,that body part would decrease or disappear.
3. Passing on Acquired Traits. He thought that if an animal acquired a body
structure (such as long arms or feathers) during its lifetime, it could pass that
change on to its offspring.
Although later discoveries showed that Lamarck’s explanation of evolution was incorrect, he is still
credited with being one of the first people to devise theory of evolution and adaptation.

F.1 Ideas that shaped Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

1. The Influence of Geology: Lyell’s Ideas. Geologist Charles Lyell demonstrated
that the Earth was very old and that it had changed over lifetime. Darwin became
convinced. If the Earth itself could change over time, so too could life on Earth.
2. The Influence of Farmers: Artificial Selection. The farmers convinced Darwin
that many of these variations (in crops and livestock) were often passed on to the
animal’s offspring. He realized that it is not the farmer that caused the variations
but it either happened naturally or not. He called this process artificial selection.
This process would allow only those organisms’ best suited to their environment
to survive and reproduce.
3. The Influence of Malthus: Population Controls. Economist Thomas Malthus
observed that babies were born at a faster rate than people were dying. If the
human population continued to increase in that way, sooner or later there would
be no enough living space and food. The only conditions that would prevent the
endless growth of human populations were famine, disease and war. These
observations were called Malthusian Doctrine. Darwin realized that the
Malthusian Doctrine applied to animals and plants than to humans.

F.2 Evolution by Natural Selection

Darwin knew that each individual differs all the other members of its species.
Individuals whose characteristics are well suited to their environment survive.
Individuals whose characteristics are not well suited to their environment either
die or leave fewer offspring. This principle Darwin called survival of the fittest.
Lecture Notes: GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 GRSHS-X
Unit 5 Diversity of Life: Evolution Essentials of Biological Science

F.3 Genetics and Evolutionary Theory

In developing his theory of evolution, Darwin had no idea about the inheritable traits passed
from one generation to the next. Today, because of our knowledge of genetics enables us to
explain the mechanism of evolution completely than Darwin could. Genetics and evolutionary
theory are inseparable.
F.3.1 Genes: Units of Variations.
Genes are also the source of the random variation upon which natural selection operates.
Mutations cause some variation.
F.3.2 Raw Material for Natural Selection.
Natural selection can operate only on the phenotypic variation (physical and behavioral
characteristics) among individuals. This phenotypic variation is produced by a
combination of genetic and environmental influences.
F.3.3 Evolution as Genetic Change.
In order to describe the evolution of plants and animals, biologist study groups of
organisms called populations. A population is a collection of individuals of the same
species in a given area whose members can breed with one another. Because all members
of a population can interbreed, they and their offspring share a common group of genes,
called a gene pool. Each gene pool contains a number of alleles for each inheritable trait,
including alleles for recessive trait.
F.3.3 Genes, Fitness and Adaptation.
Each time an organism reproduces, it passes copies of its genes to its offspring. Thus,
evolutionary fitness is define as the success an organism has in passing on its genes to the
next generation. And we can define an adaptation as any genetically controlled
characteristics of an organism that increases its fitness.
F.3.4 A Genetic Definition for Species
A species is a group of similar-looking (though not identical) organisms that breed with
one another and produce fertile offspring in the natural environment. This definition is
important because it allows us to determine what it means to belong to the same or
different species.

G. THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SPECIES (SPECIATION)

G.1 The Niche: How to make a living
Organisms need to survive and acquire the necessities of life. Organisms would have
difficulty surviving if they all tried to do the same kind of work. The combination of an
organism’s “profession” and the place in which it lives is called its niche. If two species
occupy the same niche in the same location at the same time, they will compete with each
other for food and space. No two species can occupy the same niche in the same
location for a long period of time. So in the evolutionary struggle for existence, any
species that occupies an unoccupied niche will better able to survive.
G.2 The Process of Speciation
Scientist have learned that new species usually form only when populations are isolated,
or separated. This separation of populations so that they do not interbreed to produce
fertile offspring is called reproductive isolation. Reproductive isolation is the agent for
the formation of new species. Once the reproductive isolation occurs, natural selection
increases the difference between the separated populations.
G.3 Darwin’s Finches: An Example of Speciation
A group of 14 bird species on the Galapagos Islands . All these finch species evolved
from a single ancestral species. Yet each of the 14 species exhibits body structures and
behaviors that enable it to live in a different niche. The evolution of the various species of
finches on the Galapagos Islands shows how geographic and behavioral barriers and
reproductive isolation eventually lead to the formation of new species.
Lecture Notes: GENERAL BIOLOGY 2 GRSHS-X
Unit 5 Diversity of Life: Evolution Essentials of Biological Science

H. ADAPTIVE RADIATION
Adaptive Radiation or divergent evolution, a process in which a number of different species,
diverge, or move away, from a common ancestral form. During a period of adaptive radiation,
organisms evolve a variety of characteristics that enable them to survive in a different niches

Adaptive radiations among different organisms often produce species that are similar in
appearance and behavior. This phenomenon is known as convergent evolution. Convergent
evolution has produced many of the analogous structures in organisms today. Analogous
structures are similar in appearance and function, but they have different origins. For example,
the wings of butterflies, birds and bats are analogous structures that allow the organisms to fly.
However, a closer examination of these wings indicates a different internal structures.

I. SPECIATION or evolution of new species is brought about by:

1. the appearance of new traits (either by mutation or new combination of genes)
2. natural selection (traits that survive)
3. genetic drift (traits that are not useful to the organisms to remain in the population by
chance, as long as said traits are not harmful to the organisms, and those organisms
reproduce)
4. isolation (prevents individuals from mating with those of the same species outside that
population, islands for instance)

J. ISOLATION
Before a new species can be formed, another condition is necessary: something must prevent
mating between individuals of this population with individuals of the same species outside that
population. This phenomenon is called isolation. There are several kinds of reproductive
barriers. The two populations are separated from each other by a body of water. This
geographical barrier prevents interbreeding among individuals of the two populations. The
members of each population breed only among themselves.

K. Important Terms.
 Phylogeny refers to the evolutionary history of a group of organisms.
 Systematics refers to the study of biological diversity, or genetic diversity, of organisms
and their classification.
 Taxonomy refers to the branch of biology concerned with identification and
classification of a species.