The
University
of
the
West
Indies

BIOL1051 - Biodiversity I

Lecture I - Evolution

Department
of
Biological
and
Chemical
Sciences

 

Evolution has happened and is still happening (see evidence in the course text).
Evolution is change over time which, in modern species populations, can
be described as changes in gene frequencies in the gene pool of a
population over time.

The theories/hypotheses apply to the mechanism.

Hypotheses and Theories

1. Genesis or special creation.
  • States, all species created at one time but new species have appeared/evolved over time.
  • Vast majority of all species that have existed are now extinct.
  • On the basis of the bible record, Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656) calculated that the earth was created on Sunday 23 Oct 4004 BC and Jewish rabbi's concluded the earth was created in 3761 BC (which became the starting date of the Jewish calendar)
  • The age of the earth is estimated at ~ 4,540,000,000 years.
  • Not really a theory?
2. Linnaeus' compromise.
  • The father of modern taxonomy Linnaeus (1707-1778) studied many species of plants and animals.
  • In his early years, he thought he was cataloguing God made diversity.
  • In later life, he realised that species could hybridise to form new species. He suggested that, perhaps, new genera might also arise through hybridisation. Nature could create too.
3. Inheritance of acquired traits (characteristics)
  • Part of the evolutionary philosophy of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829).
  • The giraffe stretching its neck was the invention of a Parisian cartoonist who was trying to ridicule Lamarck.
  • The sons (and daughters) of body builders do not have well developed muscular bodies.

4. The Darwin-Wallace theory of natural selection
  • Organisms overproduce
  • Traits are inherited with recombination
  • There is competition for resources
  • Best adapted individuals in a species population survive to reproduce and produce viable offspring
5. Neo-darwinism
  • There have been many scientific discoveries since the two naturalists, Darwin and Wallace, proposed their theory
  • Most of these relate to genetics
  • These are incorporated and help explain the mechanism of natural selection

 6. Punctuated equilibrium
  • Natural selection implies gradualism (sympatric speciation)
  • The fossil record indicates that the rate may vary, with periods of apparent rapid change (punctuations) being interspersed among longer periods of virtual stasis (equilibrium)
  • Rapid changes are the result of speciation in isolated populations (allopatric speciation) and subsequent migration 
  • Existence of mass extinctions is not direct evidence of punctuated equilibria but rather periods of extremely rapid/catastrophic environmental change

   

Charles Robert Darwin

Paternal Grandfather

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

 Doctor, Poet, Inventor, Wit and Gardener
Books:- Botanic Garden, Zoonomia and Temple of Nature

Maternal Grandfather

Josiah Wedgwood

Industrialist - Wedgwood pottery

Great Uncle

Robert Waring Darwin

Published Principia Botanica in 1787

Father

Robert Waring Darwin

Doctor, Gardener and Pigeon Breeder

Mother

Susannah Wedgwood

 

Fifth child

Charles Robert Darwin

Born 1809:02:12

1817

Went to school in Shrewsbury and showed great interest in Natural History

1818-1825

Attended Dr. Samuel Butler’s school. The Doctor said he was wasting time on his extramural scientific activities

Oct 1825 - Apr 1827

 Attended Edinburgh University, studying medicine.
Dropped out

Oct 1827 - Jan 1831

 Attended Cambridge University, studying Divinity.
Met Prof. Henslow (‘inventor’ of school science education).
Gained B.A. in Divinity

27 Dec 1831

 Left England on H.M.S.S. Beagle.
Not employed as ship’s Naturalist

17 Sep - 20 Oct 1835

Galapagos Islands where he did not realise the full significance of the Finches.
(Named Darwin’s Finches by David Lack in 1940)

2 Oct 1836

Arrived back in England. Unemployed to his death.

1839

Published - Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited During the Voyage of HMS Beagle Round the World

A later edition can be read at http://www.literature.org/Works/Charles-Darwin/voyage/index.html

Feb 1855

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) published a paper - ‘On the law that has regulated the introduction of new species’ in Annals and Magazine of Natural History

1858:06:18

Darwin received manuscript from Wallace which independently contained many of Darwin’s ideas on natural selection

1858:07:01

Joint paper of Darwin and Wallace - ‘On the tendency of species to form varieties, and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection’ was read at the Linnean Society.

This paper, compiled by Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker, was Wallace’s MS plus extracts from Darwin’s unpublished work and a letter outlining Darwin’s theory which he had written to Asa Gray in America

1859:11:26

Published first edition of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

19 Apr 1882

Died. Buried in Westminster Abbey

For more on the life and times of Charles Robert Darwin see "Urbanowicz on Darwin"

 

  More WWW Links Links on this page
Introduction to evolutionary biology is a page answering most of the frequently asked questions.
Expensive evolution - What does it cost us?
BBC’s evolution website
PBS' evolution website
Botanical Society of America's "Statement on evolution"
Evolution: theory and science at the University of California, Berkeley Museum of Paleontology.
Scientific American - 15 answers to creationist nonsense
Becoming human: paleoanthropology, evolution & human origins
The Alfred Russel Wallace page
Ernst Mayr, Darwin's Disciple - An active scientist at 100.
Syllabus for evolution at NYU (includes some lecture notes)
Punctuated equilibrium at twenty: a paleontolological perspective 		Age of the earth
Linnaeus
Lamarck
Erasmus Darwin
Wedgwood pottery
Robert Waring Darwin
Galapagos Islands
The Voyage of the Beagle
Alfred Russel Wallace
On the Origin of Species
Urbanowicz on Darwin
Books to check Questions
Darwin, C. (1859) On the Origin of Species.
Dawkins, R. (1997) Climbing Mount Improbable.
 Eldredge, N. (1995) Reinventing Darwin.
Eldredge, N. (2001) The Triumph of Evolution: And the Failure of Creationism.
Gould, S.J. (2002) The Structure of Evolutionary Theory.
Mayr, E. (2001) What Evolution Is.
Raven, P.M. et. al. (1998) Biology of Plants. (6th Edn)
  1. Why is Darwin's background important?
  2. What is the best evidence that evolution has taken place?
  3. What South American fossils fascinated Charles Darwin and why?
  4. Why is the punctuated equilibrium theory not incompatible with that of natural selection?
  5. What does "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" mean? How is the concept relevant to phylogenetic reconstruction?

 

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Last modified: September 18, 2004