Introduction to Evolution

Historical Evolutionary Thought

What is evolution?
Fig. 22-2

Linnaeus (classification)
Hutton (gradual geologic change)
Lamarck (species can change)
Malthus (population limits)
Cuvier (fossils, extinction)
Lyell (modern geology)
Darwin (evolution, natural selection)
Wallace (evolution, natural selection)
American Revolution French Revolution U.S. Civil War
1750 1800 1850 1900
1795 Hutton proposes his theory of gradualism.
1798 Malthus publishes “Essay on the Principle of Population.”
1809 Lamarck publishes his hypothesis of evolution.
1830 Lyell publishes Principles of Geology.
1831–1836 Darwin travels around the world on HMS Beagle.
1837 Darwin begins his notebooks.
1844 Darwin writes essay on descent with modification.
1858 Wallace sends his hypothesis to Darwin.
1859 The Origin of Species is published.
Other Scientists
• The study of fossils helped lay the groundwork for Darwin’s
ideas
• Fossils are remains or traces of organisms from the past,
usually found in sedimentary rock, which appears in layers
or strata
• Paleontology, the study of fossils, largely developed by
Georges Cuvier
• Cuvier advocated catastrophism, speculating that each
boundary between strata represents a catastrophe
Fig. 22-3

Layers of deposited
sediment

Younger stratum
with more recent
fossils

Older stratum
with older fossils
Geologists James Hutton and Charles Lyell
• Perceived that changes in Earth’s surface can result
from slow continuous actions still operating today
• Lyell’s principle of uniformitarianism states that the
mechanisms of change are constant over time
Lamarck’s Hypothesis of Evolution
• Lamarck hypothesized that
species evolve through use
and disuse of body parts and
the inheritance of acquired
characteristics
• The mechanisms he proposed
are unsupported by evidence
Darwin’s Ideas
• Years after his voyage, Darwin perceive adaptation to
the environment and the origin of new species as
closely related processes.
• From studies made years after Darwin’s voyage,
biologist have concluded that this is indeed what
happened to the Galápagos finches
Fig. 22-5b

The
Galápagos Pinta
Islands
Genovesa
Marchena

Santiago
Daphne
Islands
Pinzón
Fernandina
Isabela Santa
Cruz Santa San
Fe
Cristobal
Florenza Española
Fig. 22-6

(a) Cactus-eater (c) Seed-eater

(b) Insect-eater
Darwin developed two main ideas
•Descent with modification explains life’s
unity and diversity

•Natural selection is a cause of adaptive

evolution.
Fig. 22-7
• Descent with modification summarized Darwin’s view
of the unity of life, referring to the view that all
organisms ae related through descent from an
ancestor that lived in the remote past
Fig. 22-8
Hyracoidea
(Hyraxes)

Sirenia
(Manatees
and relatives)
Moeritherium

Barytherium

Deinotherium

Mammut

Platybelodon

Stegodon

Mammuthus

Elephas maximus
(Asia)

Loxodonta
africana
(Africa)
Loxodonta cyclotis
(Africa)

34 24 5.5 2 104 0

Millions of years ago Years ago

Artificial Selection, Natural Selection and
Adaptation
• Darwin noted that humans have modified other
species by selecting and breeding individuals
with desired traits, a process called artificial
selection
• Darwin then described four observations of
nature and from these drew two inferences
Fig. 22-9

Terminal
bud
Lateral
buds

Cabbage Brussels sprouts

Flower
clusters

Leaves

Kale
Cauliflower

Stem

Wild mustard
Flowers
and stems
Broccoli Kohlrabi
• Observation #1: Members of a population
often vary greatly in their traits

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• Observation #2: Traits are inherited from
parents to offspring

• Observation #3: All species are capable of

producing more offspring than the
environment can support

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Fig. 22-11

Spore
cloud
• Observation #4: Owing to lack of food or
other resources, many of these offspring do
not survive

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• Inference #1: Individuals whose
inherited traits give them a higher
probability of surviving and
reproducing in a given environment
tend to leave more offspring than
other individuals

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• Inference #2: This unequal ability of
individuals to survive and reproduce
will lead to the accumulation of
favorable traits in the population over
generations

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• Darwin was influenced by Thomas Malthus who
noted the potential for human population to
increase faster than food supplies and other
resources
• If some heritable traits are advantageous, these
will accumulate in the population, and this will
increase the frequency of individuals with
adaptations
• This process explains the match between
organisms and their environment
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 Natural Selection: A Summary
• Individuals with certain heritable
characteristics survive and reproduce at a
higher rate than other individuals
• Natural selection increases the
adaptation of organisms to their
environment over time
• If an environment changes over time,
natural selection may result in adaptation
to these new conditions and may give rise
to new species

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Fig. 22-12
(a) A flower mantid
in Malaysia

(b) A stick mantid

in Africa
• Note that individuals do not evolve;
populations evolve over time
• Natural selection can only increase or
decrease heritable traits in a population
• Adaptations vary with different
environments

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Evolution is supported by an
overwhelming amount of scientific
evidence

• New discoveries continue to fill the

gaps identified by Darwin in The Origin
of Species

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• Some individual HIV viruses have a variation that
allows them to produce DNA without errors
• These viruses have a greater reproductive
success and increase in number relative to the
susceptible viruses
• The population of HIV viruses has therefore
developed resistance to 3TC
• The ability of bacteria and viruses to evolve
rapidly poses a challenge to our society

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Fig. 22-14

100
Patient
No. 1
Patient No. 2
75

50
Patient No. 3

25

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Weeks
• Natural selection does not create new traits, but
edits or selects for traits already present in the
population
• The local environment determines which traits will
be selected for or selected against in any specific
population

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