EVOLUTION, DARWINS THEORY OF

NATURAL SELECTION AND THE

EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION
BY
YEBOAH KWAKU OPOKU Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY EDUCATION
FACULTY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA
 Introduction to Evolution
• Evolution is the process by which nature selects, from the
genetic diversity of a population traits that would make an
individual more likely to survive and reproduce in a
continuously changing environment.
• Over many years and many generations the full diversity of life
on earth is expressed.
• Evolution stresses the relatedness of all life rather than its
differences
• Evolution provides a framework for the way that we study and
understand the living world
• Evolution brings together many diverse aspects of life’s tremendous
complexity
• The modern theory of evolution is so completely identified with the
name of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) that many people think that it
was Darwin who first proposed the concept of evolution.
• Contrarily, most scholars had abandoned the notion of fixed species,
unchanged since their origin in a grand creation of life, long before
publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859.
• By that time, most biologists agreed that new species arise through
some process of evolution from older species, the problem was how
to explain the process of evolution
 Theories of evolution
• Lamarckism or Theory of Inheritance of Acquired
characters.
• Mutation theory of De Vries.
• Darwinism or Theory of Natural Selection.
• Neo-Darwinism or Modern concept or Synthetic theory of
evolution.
 Lamarckism
• It is also called “Theory of inheritance of acquired characters” proposed
by a great French naturalist, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck in 1809
A.D. in his famous book “Philosphic Zoologique”.
• This theory is based on the comparison between the
contemporary species of his time to fossil records .
• His theory is based on the inheritance of acquired characters which are
defined as the changes (variations) developed in the body of an
organism from normal characters, in response to the changes in
environment, or in the functioning (use and disuse) of organs, in
their own life time, to fulfill their new needs.
• Thus Lamarck stressed on adaptation as means of evolutionary
modification.
 Postulates of Lamarckism
1. New needs:
• The changes in the environmental factors like light, temperature, medium, food, air
etc. or migration of animal lead to the origin of new needs in the living organisms,
especially animals.
• To fulfill these new needs, the living organisms have to exert special efforts like the
changes in habits or behaviour
2. Use and disuse of organs:
• The new habits involve the greater use of certain organs to meet new needs, and the
disuse or lesser use of certain other organs which are of no use in new conditions.
• This use and disuse of organs affect the form, structure and functioning of the organs.
• Continuous and extra use of organs make them more efficient while the continued
disuse of some other organs lead to their degeneration and ultimate disappearance.
• This theory therefore is also called “Theory of use and disuse of organs.”
3. Inheritance of acquired characters:
• Lamarck believed that acquired characters are
inheritable and are transmitted to the offsprings
• Offsprings are born fit to face the changed environmental
conditions and the chances of their survival are increased.
4. Speciation:
• Lamarck believed that in every generation, new characters are
acquired and transmitted to next generation, so that new
characters accumulate generation after generation.
• After a number of generations, a new species is formed
 Criticism of Lamarckism
• A German biologist, August Weismann with the proposal of his
“Theory of continuity of germplasm” in 1892 A.D. delivered a
hard blow to Lamarckism
• This theory states that environmental factors affect only somatic cells
and not the germ cells.
• As the link between the generations is only through the germ cells and
the somatic cells are not transmitted to the next generation so the
acquired characters must be lost with the death of an organism
• He suggested that germplasm is with special particles called “ids”
which control the development of parental characters in offsprings
• Mutilation of the tails of mice for about 22 generations by
Weismann and allowing them to breed did not produce tailless
mice.

• Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, trained mice to come for food

on hearing a bell. He reported that this training is not inherited
and was necessary in every generation.

• Mendel’s laws of inheritance also object the postulate of

inheritance of acquired characters of Lamarckism.
• Again, boring of pinna of external ear and nose in Indian
women, tight waist, circumcision are not transmitted from one
generation to another generator.
• Eyes which are being used continuously and constantly
develop defects instead of being improved.
• Similarly, heart size does not increase generation after
generation though it is used continuously.
• Presence of weak muscles in the son of a wrestler was also not
explained by Lamarck.
Lamarckism was therefore rejected
 Darwinism (Theory of Natural Selection)
• Charles Darwin (1809- 1882 A.D.) was an English
naturalist who made an extensive study of nature for over 20
years, especially in 1831-1836 when he went on a voyage on
the famous ship “H.M.S. Beagle” and exploring South
America, the Galapagos Islands and other islands.
• He made observations on animal distribution and the
relationship between living and extinct animals.
• He discovered that existing living forms share similarities to
varying degrees not only among themselves but also with the
life forms that existed millions of years ago, some of
which have become extinct.
• Darwin found a remarkable group of finchlike birds that
provided a very suggestive case for the development of his
theory of evolution when he arrived in the Galapagos Islands
in 1835
• The Galapagos archipelago is a cluster of 29 islands and islets
of different sizes lying on the equator about 600 miles off the
coast of Ecuador.
• Finches are generally ground-feeding seed eaters with stout
bills for cracking the tough outer coats of the seeds
• He asserted that every population has built in variations in
their characters.
• He observed a struggle for existence within all the populations
due to continued reproductive pressure and limited resources
and that all organisms, including humans, are modified
descendants of previously existing forms of life.
• In 1858 A.D., Darwin was highly influenced by a short essay
entitled “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart
Indefinitely from the Original Type” written by another
naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1812-1913)
• Darwin and Wallace’s views about evolution were presented in
the meeting of Linnean Society of London by Lyell and
Hooker on July 1, 1858.
• Darwin’s and Wallace’s work was jointly published in
“Proceedings of Linnean Society of London” in 1859 and
called Darwin-Wallace theory
• Darwin explained his theory of evolution in a book entitled
“On the Origin of Species by means of Natural
Selection” published on 24th Nov., 1859.
• Charles Darwin proposed the concept of natural selection
as the mechanism of evolution.
• Darwin viewed the history of life as a tree, with multiple
branchings from a common trunk out to the tips of the
youngest twigs
• The tips of the twigs represent the diversity of organisms living
in the present
• Each fork of the tree represents an ancestor of all the lines of
evolution that subsequently branch from that point.
• For example closely related species, such as the Asian elephant
and African elephants, are very similar because they shared the
same line of descent until a relatively recent split from
 Darwin’s postulates
1. Geometric increase
• Darwin postulated that populations tend to multiply geometrically
and the reproductive powers of living organisms (biotic potential) are
much more than required to maintain their number
• Paramecium divides three times by binary fission in 24 hours under
favourable conditions, producing a clone of about 280 million
Paramecia in just one month
• Other rapidly multiplying organisms are: Cod (one million eggs per
year); Oyster (114 million eggs in one spawning); Ascaris (70, 00,000
eggs in 24 hours); housefly (120 eggs in one laying and laying eggs
six times in a summer season)
• Plants likewise also reproduce very rapidly e.g., a single
evening primrose plant produces about 1, 18,000 seeds and
single fern plant produces a few million spores.

• These examples confirm that every species can increase

manifold within a few generations and occupy all the available
space on the earth, provided all survive and repeat the process.
So the number of a species will be much more than can be
supported on the earth
2. Limited food and space
• Darwinism states that though a population tends to increase
geometrically, the food increases only arithmetically.
• So two main limiting factors on the tremendous increase of a
population are: limited food and space which together form the
major part of carrying capacity of environment.
• These do not allow a population to grow indefinitely which are
nearly stable in size except for seasonal fluctuation.
3. Struggle for existence
• Due to rapid multiplication of populations but limited food and space, there
starts an everlasting competition between individuals having similar
requirements.
• In this competition, every living organism desires to have an upper hand over
others.
• This competition between living organisms for the basic needs can be
categorized into 3
(a) Intraspecific: Between the members of same species
(b) Interspecific: Between the members of different species e.g. between
predator and prey.
(c) Environmental or Extra specific: Between living organisms and adverse
environmental factors like heat, cold, drought, flood, earthquakes, light etc.
• Intraspecific struggle is the strongest type of struggle as the needs of
the individuals of same species are most similar e.g., sexual selection
in which a cock with a more beautiful comb and plumage has better
chances to win a hen than a cock with less developed comb

• Similarly, cannabilism is another example of intraspecific competition

as in this; individuals eat upon the members of same species.

• In this death and life struggle, the majority of individuals die before
reaching the sexual maturity and only a few individuals survive and
reach the reproductive stage.
• So struggle for existence acts as an effective check on an ever-
increasing population of each species.
4. Variations
• According to this law of nature, no two individuals except
identical (monozygotic) twins are identical.
• This everlasting competition among the organisms has
compelled them to change according to the conditions to utilize
the natural resources and can survive successfully.
• Darwin stated that the variations are generally of two types—
continuous variations or fluctuations and discontinuous
variations
• On the basis of their effect on the survival chances of living
organisms, the variations may be neutral, harmful and useful.
• Darwin proposed that living organisms tend to adapt to changing
environment due to useful continuous variations such as increased speed
in the prey; increased water conservation in plants; etc.), as these will
have a competitive advantage.

5. Natural selection or Survival of the fittest

• Darwin stated that nature selects only those individuals out of the
population which are with useful continuous variations and are best
adapted to the environment while the less fit or unfit individuals are
rejected by it.
• This sorting out of the individuals with useful variations from a
heterogeneous population by the nature was called Natural selection
by Darwin and Survival of the fittest by Wallace.
• So natural selection acts as a restrictive force and not a creative force
6. Inheritance of useful variations
• Darwin believed that the selected individuals pass their useful
continuous variations to their offsprings to fit into the environment.
7. Speciation
• According to Darwinism, useful variations appear in every generation
and are inherited from one generation to another.
• So the useful variations go on accumulating and after a number of
generations, the variations become so prominent that the individual
turns into a new species.
• Therefore according to Darwinism, evolution is a gradual process and
speciation occurs by gradual changes in the existing species
 Mutation Theory of Evolution
• The mutation theory of evolution was proposed by a Dutch
botanist called Hugo de Vries (1848-1935 A.D.) in 1901 A.D. in his
book entitled “Species and Varieties, Their Origin by
Mutation”.
• He worked on evening primrose (Oenothera lamarckiana).
• He cultured O. lamarckiana in botanical gardens at Amsterdam.
• The plants were, allowed to self pollinate and next generation was
obtained.
• The plants of next generation were again subjected to self pollination
to obtain second generation and the process was repeated for a number
of generations.
• Majority of plants of first generation were found to be like the parental
type
• However, few of them (837 out of 54,343) showed only minor
variations in characters like flower size, shape and arrangement of
buds, size of seeds etc. These markedly different plants were called
primary or elementary species.
• A few plants of second generation were found to be still more
different.
• Finally, a new type, much longer than the original type, called O.
gigas, was produced.
• He also found the numerical chromosomal changes in the
variants (e.g. with chromosome numbers 16, 20, 22, 24, 28 and 30)
upto 30 but (Normal diploid number is 14).
 Postulates of mutation theory
1. The evolution is a discontinuous process and occurs by
mutations
2. Elementary species are produced in large number to increase
chances of selection by nature.
3. Mutations are recurring so that the same mutants appear again
and again. This increases the chances of their selection by
nature.
4. Mutations occur in all directions hence can cause gain or loss
of any character.
5. Mutability is fundamentally different from fluctuations (small
and directional changes).
Neo-Darwinism or Modern Concept or Synthetic Theory of
Evolution
• Lamarckism, Darwinism and Mutation theory of evolution showed
that no single theory is fully satisfactory.
• Therefore, Neo-Darwinism is a modified version of theory of Natural
Selection that reconciles Darwin’s and de Vries theories.
• Modern or synthetic theory of evolution was designated by Huxley
(1942).
• The key features of this theory is the emphasis on the populations
as the units of evolution and natural selection as the
mechanism of evolution.
• Scientists who contributed to the outcome of Neo-Darwinism included
J.S. Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, R.A. Fischer, S. Wright, Ford, H.J.
 Postulates of Neo-Darwinism
1. Genetic Variability
• Variability is an opposing force to heredity essential for
evolution as the variations form the raw material for evolution.
• Mutations, chromosomal rearrangements, Genetic
drift etc serve as the major source of genetic variability in a
gene pool
• These are often sudden, large and inheritable changes in the
genetic material.
2. Natural Selection
• Natural selection of Neo- Darwinism differs from that of Darwinism as
it does not operate through “survival of the fittest” but operates through
differential reproduction and comparative reproductive
success.
• Differential reproduction states that those members, which are best
adapted to the environment, reproduce at a higher rate and produce
more offsprings than those which are not.
• So these contribute proportionately greater percentage of genes to the
gene pool of next generation while less adapted individuals produce
fewer offsprings.
• If the differential reproduction continues for a number of generations,
then the genes of those individuals which produce more offsprings will
3. Reproductive isolation
• Any factor which reduces the chances of interbreeding between
related groups of living organisms is an isolating
mechanism.
• Reproductive isolation ensures the accumulation of variations
leading to speciation by preventing hybridization.
• In the absence of reproductive isolation, these variants freely
interbreed which lead to intermixing of their genotypes,
dilution of their peculiarities and disappearance of differences
between them.
• Reproductive isolation therefore brings about evolutionary
divergence.
 Scientific evidence of evolution
• Myriads of scientific data and exploration support evolution
• These includes but no limited to
1. Direct observations of evolution
2. Fossil record
3. Homology
4. Biogeography
 Direct observations of evolution
• Predators are a potent force in shaping the adaptations of their
food source.
• Predators are most likely to feed on prey individuals that are
least able to avoid detection, escape, or defend themselves
• Such prey individuals are less likely to reproduce and pass
their traits to their offspring than are individuals whose traits
help them evade predators.
• John Endler, of the University of California, Santa Barbara
made observational studies in support of evolution using the
effect of predators on guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a small
freshwater
• Male guppies' color patterns are so variable that no two males
look alike.
• The variable colors are controlled by a number of genes that,
in the wild, are only expressed in adult males.
• However, female guppies are attracted to males with bright
colors as mates more often than males with drab coloring.
• But the bright colors that attract females might also make the
males more conspicuous to predators.
• Hence, if a guppy population contained both brightly colored
and drab males, we might predict that predators would tend to
eat more of the brightly colored fish.
• Endler wondered how the trade-off between attracting mates
and attracting predators affects coloration in male guppies.
• In the field, he observed that the color patterns of male guppies
appeared to correspond to the intensity of predation.
• In pools that had few predator species, male guppies tended to
be brightly colored, whereas in pools that had many predators,
males were less brightly colored.
• From observations, he hypothesized that intense predation
caused natural selection in male guppies
• He tested this hypothesis by transferring brightly colored
guppies to a pool with many predators and over time the
transplanted guppy population became less brightly colored
 Evolution of drug-resistant pathogens
• Another example of ongoing natural selection is the evolution of
drug-resistant pathogens
• Bacteria and viruses that reproduce rapidly, often pose this challenge
as individuals that are resistant to a particular drug can increase in
number very quickly.
• A few Human immunodeficiency virus are drug-resistant which is
threatens the treatment of AIDS
• Usually those that survive the early doses reproduce, passing on the
alleles that enable them to resist the drug.
• In this way, the frequency of resistant viruses increases rapidly in the
population.
• In both the guppy and the HIV examples, 2 vital points are
established about natural selection.
• First, natural selection is a process of editing rather than a
creative mechanism - drug does not create resistant pathogens
but rather it selects for resistant individuals that were already
present in the population.
• Secondly, natural selection depends on time and place
 Fossil Record
• Another evidence for evolution comes from fossils.
• Fossil record shows that past organisms differed from present-
day organisms and that many species have become extinct.
• Fossils also show the evolutionary changes that have occurred
over time in various groups of organisms
 Homology
• A third type of evidence for evolution comes from analyzing
similarities among different organisms.
• As evolution is a process of descent with modification, characteristics
present in an ancestral organism are altered (by natural selection) in its
descendants over time as they face different environmental conditions.
• Hence related species can have characteristics with an underlying
similarity even though they may have very different functions.
• Such similarity resulting from common ancestry is known as
homology.
• We therefore have both Anatomical and Molecular Homologies
• For example, the forelimbs of
all mammals, including
humans, cats, whales, and
bats, show the same
arrangement of bones from the
shoulder to the tips of the
digits, even though these
appendages have very
different functions: lifting,
walking, swimming, and
flying
• These anatomical resemblances would be highly unlikely if these
structures had arisen anew in each species.
• Rather, the underlying skeletons of the arms, forelegs, flippers, and
wings of different mammals are homologous structures that
represent variations on a structural theme that was present in their
common ancestor
• Again. early stages of development in different animal species reveals
additional anatomical homologies not visible in adult organisms.
• E.g, at some point in their development, all vertebrate embryos have a
tail located posterior to the anus and structures called pharyngeal
pouches
• The homologous throat pouches develop into structures with different
functions, such as gills in fishes and parts of the ears and throat in
humans and other mammals.
 Biogeography
• Biogeography which is the geographic distribution of species
provide another evidence of evolution.
• The geographic distribution of organisms is influenced by
many factors, including continental drift
• About 250 million years ago, these movements united all of
Earth's landmasses into a single large continent, called
Pangaea
• However, 200 million years ago, Pangaea began to break apart
• Therefore, our understanding of evolution and continental drift
can be used to predict the location of fossils of different groups
of organisms
• E.g Darwin described in The Origin of Species, most island
species are closely related to species from the nearest mainland
or a neighboring island.
• He explained this observation by suggesting that islands are
colonized by species from the nearest mainland
The end