EVOLUTION

LESSON PREPARED BY:

1
LIFE SCIENTIST: J. NKOSI
 CONCEPTS IN EVOLUTION
CONCEPT CONCEPT
HYPOTHESIS ANTROPOLOGY
THEORY ACHAEOLOGY
EVOLUTION PALAEONTOLOGY
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION PHYLOGENETICS
NATURAL SELECTION MUTATION
ARTIFICIAL SELECTION BIPEDALISM
SPECIES QUADRIPEDALISM
POPULATION BIODIVERSITY
SPECIATION PANCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
 TREE OF LIFE
•All living things share
a common ancestor
•movies\TreeOfLIfe.avi
 All things we see today arose from things that existed in
the past but they look different because things change
over long periods of time
 Biological evolution refers to the changes that life
forms have undergone over long periods of time –
distinct from the evolution of the Earth itself.
 Biological Evolution means that all present-day forms
of life …
❑ have descended from, and are related to, those that
lived in the past
❑ may look different because they became modified
from one generation to another
 TERM DEFINITION EXAMPLE
Hypothesis A testable statement The high incidence
about the natural world of HIV-AIDS is
that can be used to due to the lack of
build more complex education about
inferences and the causes of the
explanations disease
Theory A well-substantiated The sun is the
explanation of some centre of the
aspect of the natural universe, around
world that can which all the
incorporate facts, laws, planets revolve
inferences, and tested (Heliocentric
hypotheses theory)
Support for Evolution:
•The fossil record
•Fossils provide a record of species
that lived long ago
•Fossils show that ancient species
share similarities with species that
now live on Earth
Glyptodont

Armadillo
 Evolution

Geographic Distribution:

▪ The distribution of
plants and animals that
Darwin saw first suggested
evolution to Darwin
Rabbit

Mara
▪Anatomically similar structures inherited from a common
ancestor are called homologous structures
▪Having similar origins and anatomical patterns
▪Examples – bird wings, human arms, whale flippers, bat
wings, cat legs.
▪ Analogous structures can be used for the same purpose
and can be superficially similar in construction, but are not
anatomical similar
▪ Analogous structures do the same thing – similar
function, but different anatomy
▪ Wings (butterfly external skeleton, bat internal skeleton)
▪ Analogous structures: wings of an insect, bird, bat and
pterosaur
Scientists state that organisms are closely related and are likely
to have a common ancestor if they have:
–– Identical DNA structure
–– Similar sequence of genes
–– Similar portions of DNA with no functions and
–– Similar mutations (mitochondrial DNA)
Species that are closely related have a greater similarity to each
other than distant species
Erasmus Darwin (1731 – 1802):
◼ Ideas on evolution that were proposed by Erasmus Darwin:
 All life developed from simple forms
 There are similarities amongst various organisms
 Artificial selection and metamorphosis showed how
changes may have occurred

Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744 – 1829):

◼ Two ideas of Lamarck in explaining evolution:
 Use and disuse
 Inheritance of modified characteristics

Alfred Wallace (1823 – 1913):

◼ Natural selection as an explanation for evolution

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882):

◼ Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
 SOURCES OF VARIATION
 Mutation
 Meiosis :-
 Independent assortment
 Crossing–over
 Random mating
 Chance fertilization
 Jean–Baptista Lamarck
(1744-1829)

Lamarck used two ‘laws’ to

explain evolution:-
•‘Law’ of use and disuse – the
more an organism uses a
muscle or an organ the
stronger the muscle or organ
will developed
•Muscle and organ that were
not used would simply disappear
after several generations
•‘Law’ of the inheritance of
acquired characteristics –
the stronger muscle acquired
in the organism’s life time will be
passed on to
 LamarckISM
Outline Lamarck’s approach using the giraffe as an example

 All giraffes had short

necks originally
 Giraffes frequently
stretched/used their
necks to reach for leaves
of tall trees causing their
necks to become longer
 The characteristics of
long necks acquired in
this way was then passed
on to the next generation
forming offspring with
longer necks than the
generation before
Example of LamarckISM
 Charles Darwin
(1809 – 1882)

 Considered as the father of evolution Published his

ideas in ‘On the origin of species by means of natural
selection’
 His research was based on observations made during his
long voyage on the HMS Beagle, between 1831 and 1836
 This made him realise that the Earth is very old and that
major changes have taken place over long periods of time
 Principle of natural selection
 Most species produce a large number of offspring in their life-
times
 Variation: Offspring of the same species show a great deal of
variation
 Competition: These offspring compete with each other for food,
shelter etc.
 Survival: Only a small number of offspring survive
 Genetics: Organisms pass genetic traits on to their offspring.
Later used the term survival of the fittest
 Natural selection: Those organisms with the most beneficial
traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.
 Natural Selection from generation to generation caused the
population to gradually change …
 leading to the evolution of new species
LamarckISM & darwinism
 DarwinISM
Outline Darwin’s approach using the giraffe as an example

 As a result of genetic variation in the giraffe

population some giraffes have longer necks and
others shorter necks
 Environmental change/competition for resources
occurred causing those with shorter necks to die
and those with longer necks to survive since they
could reach the leaves of tall trees
 This is termed natural selection
 The genotype for longer necks was passed on to
subsequent generations
 In this way each subsequent generation had necks
longer than the generation before
Example of DarwinISM
 Natural Selection
EXAMPLE:- Finches √ / any other example
 Organisms of a particular species shows a great deal of
variation
 Most species produce a large number of offspring
 Some individuals may have characteristics such as small
beak size that are favourable for the environmental
conditions
 Others may have characteristics/any example that are
unfavourable
 These offspring compete with each other for food,
shelter, etc.
 Offspring that have desirable features for obtaining
these resources will survive
 Selective pressure by the environment due to
competition/changing environmental conditions
 Organisms with favourable characteristics survive and
reproduce to pass favourable characteristics to their
offspring
 Organisms with unfavourable characteristics will die
out
 Over time the whole population will have this favourable
trait the gene pool of the population has changed
 NILES ELDREDGE AND STEPHEN JAY
GOULD (1972 -)
 Niles Eldredge of the American Museum of Natural History and Stephen Jay
Gould of Harvard University described Punctuated Equilibrium in 1972
 Punctuated Equilibrium and gradualism are concerned with evolutionary
rate
 Niles Edridge and Stephen Jay Gould (1972) contended that some species are
stable (show stasis) throughout much of their evolutionary history, and that when a
small daughter population becomes geographically isolated from its parent
species, they can evolve quite rapidly into a new species (punctuated
equilibrium)
 Eldredge and Gould claim that there were long periods of stasis (4-10 million
years) involving little evolutionary change
 Then occasional rapid (as short as 5,000 - 50,000 years) formation of new
species by means of natural selection
 If a small group of a species should get isolated from the main population in an
area where its habitat does not exist
 Rapid change could take place to bring the population back to equilibrium
(stasis), but it is no longer the same species
 Large evolutionary change is attributed to relatively rapid spurts of change
followed by long period of little or no change. First 3 billion years very gradual
until the evolutionary rates soared
 GRADUALISM &
PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
 In 1860’s Darwin described evolutionary changes as a slow, continuous
process
 This was later called gradualism
 In 1970’s Eldredge and Gould observed that sometimes evolutionary
changes happens very rapidly (5, 000 to 50, 000 years) & then long
periods of stasis / (4-10 million years) involving little evolutionary change
 This was called punctuated equilibrium
 GRADUALISM &
PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
 GRADUALISM &
PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM
 ARTIFICIAL Selection
EXAMPLE:- PRODUCTION OF FRUIT √ / MEAT
 Organisms of a particular
species/any example show a great
deal of variation
 Humans/farmers/scientists select
organisms with a particular
desirable characteristic and
interbreed them with other organisms
that also have the same desirable
characteristic
❖to improve this characteristic
further in the offspring
 They may also choose organisms with
different desirable characteristics
❖to get offspring with a
combination of these desirable
characteristics after many
generations
 Natural v/s artificial
Natural Selection Artificial Selection

The environment or Humans represent the

nature is the selective selective force.
force.
Selection is in response to Selection is in response to
suitability to the satisfying human needs.
environment.

Occurs within a species. May involve one or more

species (as in cross
breeding)
 Concept of speciation
 Species
 A group of similar organisms that is able to interbreed to produce fertile
offspring
 Each species has its own unique gene pool
 Gene flow takes place between these organisms during fertilisation
 Speciation – Emergence or formation of new species
 Darwin described evolution through natural selection in which species
change slowly over many generation
 Sometimes the changes of evolution are so great that a completely new
species population is formed
 The new species population can’t interbreed with the original population
 This process is called speciation
 Consequences of emergency of new species population by
natural selection:
 No gene flow between the different species populations,
 The populations become reproductively isolated, because they can’t
interbreed
example of speciation
 Mechanism of
reproductive isolation
Species is a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Geographical isolation and reproductive isolation mechanisms, isolate the gene

pool of a species resulting with formation of new species

Examples of reproductive isolation mechanisms:

❖ Breeding at different times of the year
❖ Species-specific courtship behaviour (animals)
❖ Adaptation to different pollinators (plants)
❖ Infertile offspring (e.g. mules)
 Process of speciation
 A population of species shows a great deal of variation
 If a population splits/divides into two or more populations by
means of a physical barrier
 There is now no gene flow between the two populations
 Since each population may be exposed to different environmental
conditions
 Natural selection occurs independently in each of the two
populations
 The desired traits that survive are different for the two or more
populations
 Over many generations the individuals of the two populations
become very different from each other genotypically and
phenotypically
 Even if the two populations were to mix again, they will not be able
to interbreed with each other, thus becoming different species/one
or both of the populations becomes a new species
example of speciation
EVOLUTION IN PRESENT TIMES
Resistance to insecticides in insects

 Mosquito population had

variation or resistant to DDT
and others not resistant
 Mosquitoes that were
resistant to DDT survive and
reproduce offspring
 Mosquitoes that was not
resistant to DDT died
 DDT also killed birds and fish
that naturally prey on
mosquitoes
 Gene pool of Mosquito
population changed
 REVISION WORKSHOP FOR LIFE SCIENCES -
37 FLOARET HOTEL - 04/09/2015 - MR NKOSI J.
phylogenetic tree
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HOMO SAPIENS
AND OTHER PRIMATES
 Upright posture
 Long upper arms
 Freely rotating arms
 Elbow joints allowing rotation of forearm
 Rotate hands at least 180º
 Flat nails instead of claws/bare finger tips
 Opposable thumb works in opposite direction to their fingers
 Large brains/skulls compared to their body mass
 Eyes in front/binocular vision/stereoscopic vision
 Eyes with cones/colour vision
 Sexual dimorphism/distinct differences between male & female
 Olfactory brain centres reduced/reduced sense of smell
 Parts of the brain that process information from the hands and
eyes are enlarged
 Two mammary glands only
 Large brains/skulls compared to their
body mass

Eyes with cones Eyes in front/binocular vision /

/colour vision stereoscopic vision
Eyes with cones/colour vision
Two mammary
glands only Freely rotating arms

Long upper arms

Elbow joints allowing

rotation of forearm

Flat nails instead of

claws/bare finger tips

Opposable thumbs which

Upright work in opposite direction
posture to their fingers
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOMO SAPIENS
AND OTHER PRIMATES
 Bipedalism – foramen magnum, shorter arms and
longer legs, spine and pelvic girdle, feet (arches)
 Brain size – larger frontal part - communication
 Teeth (dentition) – African apes eat tough, fibrous
materials (fruits and nuts) and Humans eat softer food
/meat/more proteins for the development of the brain
 Prognathism – (large jaw muscles for chewing to
smaller jaw muscles for softer food) all to do with large
strong jaw muscles for chewing
 Palate shape
 Cranial ridges
 Brow ridges
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOMO SAPIENS
AND OTHER PRIMATES - skull
FEATURE Homo sapiens Other primates
Cranium 1. Larger cranium/brain 1. Smaller cranium /brain
Face 2. Flat face/Forehead slope less 2. Face sloping/Foreheads
backwards slope much backwards
Foramen Magnum 3. Foramen magnum 3. Foramen magnum at
forward/bottom of the skull the back of the skull

Brow Ridges 4. Brow ridges are not as 4. Brow ridges

pronounced pronounced
Canines 5. Smaller canines 5. Larger canines

Spaces between 6. Smaller spaces between the 6. Larger spaces between

teeth teeth the teeth
Arrangement of 7. Jaws with teeth on a 7. Jaws with teeth in a
teeth gentle/round curve rectangular/U shape
Jaws 8. Less protruding 8. More protruding jaws/
jaws prognathous
Chin 9. Lower jaw has a well- 9. Lower jaw has poorly
developed chin developed chin
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOMO SAPIENS
AND OTHER PRIMATES - skull
Major Genera in hominid evolution
When existed
Genus and Discovered
(million years Fossil site Characteristics
species by
ago – mya)
Small hominid weighed about
Ardipithecus species 50 kg – found 17 hominin
(Earliest Ape-like Man) fossils – intermediate between
apes and humans
4,4 million North-East Brian size: small brain about
Ethiopia / 300– 350 cm3
years ago Middle Awash Position of foramen magnum
Ardipithecus ramidus

(mya) region of forward

Ethiopia / Rift Very prognathous and Heavy
Valley

Tim White
brow ridges
Teeth show that they eat
Mainly plant material and fruit
(intermediate between apes
and humans)
Pelvis structure – intermediate
bipedal and tree climbing (big
toe was able to grip like a
thumb–although feet were
rigid for walking)
Major Genera in hominid evolution
When existed
Genus and Discovered
(million years Fossil site Characteristics
species by
ago – mya)
• Small bodies and small
brains
• Large-toothed hominins
• Fully bipedal
Australopithecus species • Transition forms – mixture
(Southern Ape-like Man) of ape-like and human
features
• Several different species
have been found in East
Africa
4 – 2, 7 Ethiopia, Kenya, • Brian size: small brain about

Donald Johanson
Australopithecus

Tanzania 375 – 550 cm3

mya • Position of foramen magnum
afarensis

forward
(1974) • Very prognathous
• Heavy brow ridges
• Canines large and pointed
• Long arms
• No cranial ridge
• Rigid feet
Major Genera in hominid evolution
When existed
Genus and Discovered
(million years Fossil site Characteristics
species by
ago – mya)
3 – 2 mya Taung, • Brian size: about 428 –
africanus (Taung
Australopithecus

Sterkfontein 625 cm3

Raymond Dart
• Position of foramen
magnum forward

(1925)
Child)

• Prognathous
• Brow ridges
• Teeth large, canines short
• Long arms
• No cranial ridge
• Rigid feet
1,9 – 1,8 mya Malapa Cave – part • Brian size: about 420 cm3

Lee Burger (2008

sediba (Karabou)
Australopithecus

of the Cradle of
Humankind • Position of foramen
magnum forward

- 2012)
• Less prognathous
• Brow ridges
• Teeth large, canines short
• Long arms
• No cranial ridge
• Rigid feet
 Major Genera in
hominid evolution
Major Genera in hominid evolution
Genus and When existed Discovered
Fossil site Characteristics
species (mya) by
• Large brain, at least 600 cm 3
• High fore head
Homo Species • Smaller less specialised teeth
• Flatter face
• Arms shorter & legs longer
2,2 – Olduvai Gorge in • Brain size: 650 cm 3

Louis and Mary

Leakey (1963)
(Handy man –
Homo habilis

1,6 mya Tanzania • Less prognathous

• Smaller eye sockets
first tool
maker)

• Brow ridges
• Large teeth, canines not long
• Long arms associated with tree
• No cranial ridge
• Foot had an arch

2 – 0,4 Java in Indonesea (1891), • Brain size: 900 cm 3

Eugene Dubois
Homo erectus

Swartkrans (1969)
mya North, East and South Africa as • Prognathous
well as Europe and Asia • Brow ridges
• Cranial ridges
• Short canines
• Longer legs
• Shorter arms
Major Genera in hominid evolution
Genus When existed
Discovered
and (million years Fossil site Characteristics
by
species ago – mya)
200 000 Makapansgat in • Brian size: 1 200
mya - present Limpopo, Border – 1 800 cm3
cave in KZN, • Flat face
Blombos cave in • Distinct chin
the Western • No brow ridges
Homo sapiens

Cape • Small teeth

Tim White
• Short arms
• Rigid feet with an
arch
Major Genera in hominid evolution
Australopithecus
afarensis
Australopithecus
africanus
Australopithecus
(Paranthropus)
robustus
Homo habilis

Homo erectus

Homo neanderthalensis
Homo sapiens
Out of Africa hypothesis
 1. Fossil Evidence
 According to most scientists, humans originated from Africa and
moved to other countries
 This hypothesis is based on fossil evidence and genetic
evidence from fossils of Africa
 Mrs Ples, Taung Child, Little Foot (Australopithecus africanus)
 Nutcracker man(Paranthropus boisei):-
 Handy man(Homo habilis
 Toumai (Sahelanthropus tachadensis):-
 Karabo (Australopithecus sediba)
 2. Migration of Homo erectus from Africa into the rest of the
world
 Scientists believe that from East Africa early Humans migrated
across the continent of Africa
 This is evident by the fossils found of homo Erectus in different
places around the world
Out of Africa hypothesis
 Genetic evidence for the
“Out of Africa hypothesis”
Mutant genes from Mitochondrial DNA
 Apart from DNA in the nucleus, DNA also occurs in
the mitochondria as mitochondrial DNA(mt DNA)
 mtDNA of the sperm cell does not fuse with
mtDNA of the egg cell
 mtDNA is therefore handed down from mother to
child
 By following mutations in mtDNA, we can trace
our female line of descent
 Using mutant nucleotides of Y-chromosomes
 Spencer Wells and his colleagues have traced
 SIYABONGA
THANK YOU
BAIE DANKIE

LESSON PREPARED BY:

LIFE SCIENTIST: J. NKOSI