Biology – Monday, March 25th:

 Turnin Evolution packet from

Friday if you haven’t already.

 Answerthis question:
What is evolution?
Evolution
Chapter 10
 Evolution
Evolution, or change over time, is
the process by which modern
organisms have descended from
ancient organisms.
 Voyage of the Beagle

 Charles Darwin – born in England

 Joined the crew of the
H.M.S. Beagle
 Sailed around the world
 Made numerous observations
and collected evidence that
led him to propose his
hypothesis.
 Darwin’s Observations
Patterns of Diversity:
• Puzzled by where different species lived and
did not live

• Asked:
Why were there no rabbits in Australia,
despite the presence of habitats that
seemed perfect for them?

Why were there no kangaroos in England?

 Darwin’s Observations
Living Organisms and Fossils
• Darwin collected and preserved fossils
• Fossils resembled organisms that were still
alive – other looked completely unlike any
creature he had ever seen.

He Asked: Why had so many of these species

disappeared?
 Darwin’s Observations
The Galapagos Islands

• Most influenced Darwin

• Although islands were so close together, the

islands had very different climates.

• Fascinated by the land tortoises and marine

iguanas.
 Darwin’s Observations
Galapagos Islands continued

• Saw that giant tortoises varied in predictable

ways from one island to another.

• The shape of a tortoise’s shell could be used to

identify which island a particular tortoise lived.
 Natural Selection Questions
(Bill Nye)
1. A young man that walked out was __ ___.
2. He quit medical school to become a ___.
3. How long did the Beagle stay in the Galapagos
Islands? __ days
4. Finches had different shaped ___: varied by
the environment they inhabited.
5. What was the mechanism that made evolution
occur? ___ ____
6. When did he publish his book?
7. Now, every where we look at today, we see
something that came from ___.
Natural Selection Clip
(Bill Nye)
 An Ancient, Changing Earth

James Hutton and Charles Lyell

 Recognized that Earth is many millions of years

old.

 And the processes that changed Earth in the

past are the same processes that operate in the
present.
 Hutton and Lyell
 Volcanoes release hot lava and gases now, just as
they did on an ancient Earth.
 Erosion continues to carve out canyons, just as it did
in the past.
 Also said that awesome geological features could be
built up or torn down over long periods of time.
(examples: earthquakes and volcanoes)

 Darwin then asked:

If the Earth could change over time,
might life change as well?
 Lamarck’s Theory of Evolution
Proposed that by selective use or disuse of
organs, organisms acquired or lost certain traits
during their lifetime.

These traits could then be passed on to their

offspring.

Over time, this process led to change in a species

 Lamarck Continued
Fiddler Crabs: An Example

1. The male crab uses its small front

claw to attract mates and ward off
predators
2. Because the front claw has been
used repeatedly, it becomes
larger.
3. A larger claw, is then passed on to
the crab’s offspring.

He was WRONG! He did not realize

that the large claw traits were
inherited
Lamark’s Theory
According to Lamarck's
theory, a given giraffe could,
over a lifetime of straining to
reach high branches,
develop an elongated neck.

The long neck is ACQUIRED

 Population Growth
 Malthus (an economist) – observed that babies
were being born faster than people were dying.

 He reasoned that if the

human population continued
to grow unchecked, sooner
or later there would be
insufficient living space and
food for everyone.
 Carrying Capacity
The largest number of individuals
of a population that a given
environment can support.
 The Origin of Species

 The actual title is:

The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

• The book proposed a mechanism for

evolution that he called natural selection.
• Presented evidence that demonstrating
the process of evolution has been taking
place for millions of year.
 Darwin’s Arguments
Natural Variation and Artificial Selection

• Argued that species were not perfect and

unchanging.
• Natural Variation: There are differences
among individuals of a species.

Examples:
Some cows gave more milk than others & some
plants bore larger fruit than others.
Darwin’s Arguments

Natural Variation and Artificial Selection

Artificial Selection: Nature provided the

variation among different organisms, and
humans selected those variations that they
found useful.
* Only the largest hogs, fastest horses, and the
cows that gave the most milk were selected to
breed and produce offspring.
 Evolution by Natural Selection
 The Struggle for Existence: Means that
members of each species compete regularly to
obtain food, living space, and other necessities
of life.
 A predator that is the fastest or has a particular
way of catching prey can catch more prey.

 Prey that are faster, better

camouflaged, or better protected
avoid being caught.
 Evolution by Natural Selection
 Survival of the Fittest: Process by which
individuals that are better suited to their
environment survive and reproduce most
successfully; also called Natural Selection.

 Darwin called the ability of an individual to

survive and reproduce in its specific
environment fitness.

 An adaptation is any inherited characteristic

that increases an organism’s chance of
survival.
Darwin’s Discoveries Video Clip
 Survival of the Fittest
 The concept of fitness, Darwin argued, was
central to the process of evolution by natural
selection.

Example:
Baby birds compete for food in the nest. The
stronger bird may take food from the weaker
siblings.
 Stipulations of Natural Selection
1) Lots of offspring:
 In nature, organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive.
2) Variation:
 In any population, individuals will have slight differences in their
phenotypes.
3) Heredity:
 Variations due to genetics are passed on.
4) Fitness
 Some organisms will have traits better suited for their environment and
will survive more than those without it.
 These organisms reproduce more and eventually the population looks
more like those with the advantageous traits.
 Evolution by Natural Selection
Descent with Modification: Principle that each
living species has descended, with changes,
from other species over time.

• Implies that all living organisms are related to

one another.

Common Descent: The principle that says all

species – living and extinct – were derived from
common ancestors.
 Evidence of Evolution
Fossil Record

Fossils that had formed in

the different layers of rock
were evidence of gradual
change over time.

One could view how a

species had changed and
produced different species
over time.
 Evidence of Evolution
Geographic Distribution of Living Species
• Species now living on different
continents had each descended from
different ancestors.
• However, because some animals on
each continent were living under similar
ecological conditions, they were
exposed to similar pressures of natural
selection.
• They ended up evolving certain
striking features in common.
• This is called Convergent Evolution
 Homologous Body Structures
Homologous Structures: Structures that have
different mature forms in different organisms
but develop from the same embryonic tissues.
 Similarities in Early Development
In their early stages of development, chickens,
turtles, and rats look similar, providing evidence
that they shared a common ancestry.
Evolution
 Analogous Structures
• Analogous structures can be superficially
similar in construction, but are NOT inherited
from a common ancestor.

• Example: The wing of an eagle & the wing of a

insect have the same function (both enable the
organism to fly) – but are constructed in
different ways & from different materials.
 Analogous Structures
* While analogous structures do not indicate
close evolutionary relationships, they do show
that functionally similar features can evolve
independently in similar environments.
 Vestigial Structures
• Vestigial Structures are structures that are the
reduced forms of functional structures in
different species.

Examples:
1. Snake Pelvis: The pelvis is the attachment
point for legs and is therefore nonfunctional in
an animal without legs
 Vestigial Structures
2. Kiwi Wing: The wings of kiwis are too small to
be of any use in flight

3. Human Appendix: Important for digestion in

many mammals, but of limited use in humans &
some apes
 Adaptations:
 Mimicry: Adaptation in which one species
evolves to resemble another species for
protection or other advantages.
 Adaptations:
 Camouflage: Adaptation
that allows organisms to blend
into their surroundings.