Development of

Evolutionary Thought
 Carolus Linnaeus (1707 - 1778)
• known as the “Father of Taxonomy”, a Swedish
botanist, who took up the new idea that plants
reproduced sexually, using differences in
reproductive structures to develop a system for
classifying /naming plants. In the year 1735, he
published his work, Systema Naturae (“System of
Nature”), which introduced the hierarchical
taxonomic categories: Kingdom-Phylum-Class-
Order-Family-Genus-Species. His research gave
all his specimens a descriptive Latin binomial, or
two-word, name. Thus, all modern classification
systems have their roots in Linnaeus’ system.
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 – 1834)
• An English cleric, scholar and influential
economist within the fields of economics and
demography. In his 1798 book An Essay on
the Principle of Population, he argued that
human populations have the potential to grow
faster than the resources they need. When
populations get too big, disease and famine
occur in a certain community. Thus, these
calamities control population size by killing off
the weakest people.
 Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
• developed a theory of catastrophism which
states that natural history has been
punctuated by catastrophic events such as
climate change and volcanic eruption that
altered that way life developed and rocks were
deposited. He also classified animals
according to their body plan (as vertebrates,
mollusks, those with jointed exoskeletons and
those with radial symmetry). His studies
about fossils gave rise to the science of
paleontology. His work was useful in
interpreting the remains of fossil animals and
relating them to living species.
 James Hutton (1726-1797)
• His Theory on Gradualism made a
significant contribution to the understanding
of the geological processes that shaped the
Earth. He recognized that the Earth was
extremely old and noticed that there was no
need for global catastrophes to shape the
surface of the Earth. He also hypothesized
that gradualism is an ongoing process of
erosion, sedimentation and some other
geological features of the soil.
 Charles Lyell (1797- 1875)
• He went to Oxford to study Mathematics and
Law but turned to Geology after being
influenced by Hutton's work. He travelled
widely in Europe, where he observed ancient
raised seabed’s separated by lava flows, and
became convinced that Hutton's model of
gradual geological change was correct. He
collected a large amount of supporting
evidence for uniformitarianism and set this
out in the "Principles of Geology", a book
that had a tremendous influence on Darwin’s
work about evolution.
 Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1774–1829)
• His Theory of Use and Disuse and Theory of
Acquired Traits gave emphases in the development
of the theory of evolution.
• Theory of Use and Disuse hypothesized that organism
can reshape or alter its traits depending on the
importance of those traits to the organisms. An
organism may develop a trait that is useful or loose
that
trait if not often used.
• Theory of Acquired Traits hypothesized that acquired
traits of an organism that were adaptive to the
environment can be passed on to its
offspring as inherited traits.
 Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
• famous for his Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection. Together with Alfred Russel Wallace, he
describes how species evolved by Natural Selection:
• • through artificial selection some offspring have
variations that occur by chance and that can be
inherited. In nature offspring with certain variations
that might be more likely to survive will might have
difficulty for existence and reproduce. If it happens,
they would pass their favorable variations to their
offspring.
• through Natural selection, fitness is a characteristic
for an organism’s relative ability to survive and produce
fertile offspring. Nature selects the variations that are
most functional.
 Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

• speciation occurs when the selection,

artificial or natural, change domestic
species over time. He thought that if a
species changed enough, it might evolve
into a new organism/species.
• through Common descent, species no
matter how diverse shared common
ancestry.
 Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)

•known as the Father of Heredity, was

carrying out imperative experiments on
dominant and recessive traits of genes that
proved Darwin’s concept of natural selection. He
wrote about crossbreeding peas which
established how heredity works. His experiment
on pea plants showed those organisms which
inherit dominant genes were more likely
described the fittest organism over organism
which inherit recessive trait.
Taxonomy and
Classification
 Why Classify?
• To make it easier to study life!
• Taxonomy- the assigning of a
universally accepted name to a
species.
• Binomial nomenclature- An
organism’s classification is based on
its Genus and species names. The
Genus is ALWAYS capitalized, and the
species name is NEVER capitalized.
– E.g. Homo sapiens (humans), Odocoileus
virginianus (Whitetailed deer)
Who devised a system
for classification?
• Carolus Linneaus (1707 -1778)
a swedish naturalist.
• Devised a two part naming
system known as binomial
nomenclature.
 Linnaeus
• We use a system today that was originally
created by Carl Linnaeus.
• Linnaeus- (1707-1778) A botanist who
created a classification system of
organisms based on their physical
similarities with each other.
• Originally, Linnaeus only had two
Kingdoms, or major categories-Plant and
Animal.
 Binomial Nomenclature
• Standard two-part system for naming things.
• In this system, the first word identifies the
genus of the organism.
• A genus (genera-plural) consists of a group of
similar species.
• The second word, which sometimes describes
a characteristic of the organism, is called the
specific epithet.
Linnaeus described and named > 6,000 animals
and >4,000 plants using Latin
Scientific name does not replace, but instead
further defines common name
Scientific and common names
• Taxonomists are required to use Latin
because the language is no longer used in
conversation and, therefore, does not change.
• Scientific names should be italicized in print
and underlined when handwritten.
• The first letter of the genus name is
uppercase, but the first letter of the specific
epithet is lowercase.

Passer domesticus
 Linnaean System
• King Phillip Came Over For
Grasshopper Soup
• Kingdom
– Phylum
• Class
– Order
» Family
» Genus
» Species
 Linnaeus vs. Modern
Classification
• Linnaeus • Modern
– 2 Kingdoms – 5 or 6 kingdoms
– Based on physical – Based on physical
similarities similarities AND
– Uses only biologists genetic similarities
observations and – Uses observations,
knowledge of knowledge of
organisms organisms,
molecular clocks,
and other genetic
techniques
 Modern Classification
• Five Kingdom System: Older system,
lumps all prokaryotic species into one
kingdom: Monera
Animal Plant Protist Fungi Monera
Six Kingdom Classification
• Keeps Animal, Plant, Fungi and
Protista, and splits Monera into two
Kingdoms:
– Eubacteria-normal everyday prokaryotes
found on Earth
– Archeabacteria- prokaryotes that are
only found in extreme environmental
conditions, like in a salty lake, or in
extreme temperatures; also called
extremophiles.
Three Domains: Six Kingdoms
• Eukarya • Bacteria • Archea
– Animal – Eubacteria – Archeabacteria
– Plant • Peptidoglycan • No
in the cell peptidoglycan
– Fungi walls in the cell walls
– Protista
Prokaryotic Prokaryotic
All have single celled single celled
organisms organisms organisms that
made of live in extreme
eukaryotic environments
cells
 An Example of Classification
• The Leopard: Panthera pardus
 Fungi
• All members are heterotrophic (they
have to eat other organisms for their
food)
• Most are multicellular, and secrete
digestive enzymes into their food
source, then absorb the smaller food
molecules
• Mushrooms are most common
 Protista
• “Junk” drawer Kingdom
• Mostly unicellular eukaryotic organisms,
but some multicellular, like kelp.
• VERY diverse array of organisms, from
diatoms to algae.
• Some are autotrophs (make own food)
and some are heterotrophs.
 Dichotomous Keys
• In the field, biologists use dichotomous
keys to identify organisms.
• Dichotomous key-A chart that identifies
organisms based on their characteristics.
Its used by excluding organisms based
on their OBSERVABLE features.
 Modern Classification
• Expanding on Linnaeus’s work, today’s
taxonomists try to identify the underlying
evolutionary relationships of organisms and
use the information gathered as a basis for
classification.
• Grouping organisms on the basis of their
evolutionary relationships makes it easier to
understand biological diversity.
• Taxonomists group similar organisms, both
living and extinct. Classification provides a
framework in which to study the relationships
among living and extinct species.
 How Living Things Are Classified
• In any classification system, items are
categorized, making them easier to find and
discuss.
• Although biologists group organisms, they
subdivide the groups on the basis of more
specific criteria.
• A group of organisms is called a taxon (plural,
taxa).
• Organisms are ranked in taxa that range from
having very broad characteristics to very specific
ones.
• The broader a taxon, the more general its
characteristics, and the more species it contains.
 Taxonomic Hierarchy
Mnemonic
Kingdom kings
Phylum play
Class cards
Order on
Family fine
Genus green
Specific epithet (species) sofas
Taxonomic rankings
• The smallest taxon is species. Organisms
that look alike and successfully interbreed
belong to the same species.
• The next largest taxon is a genus—a group of
similar species that have similar features and
are closely related.
Taxonomic rankings
• Compare the appearance of a lynx, Lynx rufus,
a bobcat, Lynx canadensis, and a mountain
lion, Panthera concolor.

Lynx Mountain
Bobcat lion
 Taxonomic goals
Place organisms into logical categories
– system must be capable of being used for
information retrieval, so anyone can
properly identify any organism

Place organisms into categories that

show ancestor-descendant
relationships
 Taxonomic hierarchy
Kingdom (Animalia)
Phylum (Chordata)
Class (Mammalia)
Order (Carnivora)
Family (Canidae)
Genus (Canis)
Specific epithet (species) (familiaris)

Scientific name: Canis familiaris

Phylogenetic Classification: Models
• The evolutionary history of a species is called its
phylogeny.
• A classification system that shows the
evolutionary history of species is a phylogenetic
classification and reveals the evolutionary
relationships of species.
• One biological system of classification that is
based on phylogeny is cladistics.
• Scientists who use cladistics assume that as
groups of organisms diverge and evolve
from a common ancestral group, they retain
some unique inherited characteristics that
taxonomists call derived traits.
Six Kingdom
System
 Kingdom
Archaebacteria
• Unicellular, Prokaryote
• Either autotroph or
heterotroph
• Cell walls made of
peptidoglycan
• Reproduces by binary
fission
• Lives in Harsh
environments: salty lakes,
hot springs, anaerobic
environments
• AKA–Kingdom Moneran
Kingdom Eubacteria
• Unicellular, prokaryote
• Either autotroph or
heterotroph
• Cell walls made of
peptidoglycan
• Reproduces by binary
fission
• Includes common bacteria:
tooth decay, yogurt
production, food poisoning
• AKA–Kingdom Moneran
 Kingdom Protista
• Unicellular or multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Cell walls made of varying
materials
• Autotroph or heterotroph
• About 50,000 species
• Reproduces-asexually
• Examples include:
– Euglena
– Amoeba
Kingdom Fungi
• Unicellular or multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Heterotrophic
• Cells walls made of chitin.
• Reproduces - asexually
• 100,000 species
• Including: toadstools,
mushrooms, puffballs,
rusts or smut
 Kingdom Plantae
• Multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Autotrophic
• Can reproduce both
ways.
• Cell walls made of
cellulose.
• All but a few are land
dwellers. 350,000
species
• Including:mosses, ferns,
conifers, flower plants
Kingdom Animalia
• Multicellular
• Eukaryotic
• Heterotrophic
• No cell walls
• Reproduces
sexually by meiosis.
• All animals have
some type of
symmetry