Chapter 2: The Development of Evolutionary Theory Intro Humans didnt evolve from chimpanzees or monkeys Earliest human ancestors

rs evolved from species 5-8 million yrs ago That ancestral specie was the last common ancestor we share with chimpanzees Lineage that lead to apes and human separated from a monkey-like ancestor 200 million yrs ago A brief History of Evolutionary Thought Discovery of evolutionary principles took place in western Europe because of scientific thinking from the 16th century Arabs, Indians, Chinese and Greek had notions on biological evolution but never really formulated it Charles Darwin first to describe basics of evolution Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the theory of natural selection as well Natural Selection: genetic change or changes in the frequencies of certain traits in populations due to differential reproductive success between individuals Fixity of Species: the notion that species once created can never change; an idea diametrically opposed to theories of biological evolution The Scientific Revolution Arab and Indian Scholars developed concepts o f planetary motion centuries earlier that the Europeans In 1514 Copernicus proved that the Earth Revolved around the sun disproving Aristotles Theory, but Indian Scholars proved this long b4 In 16th and 17th centuries scholars improved their scientific knowledge John Ray-17th century (1627-1705) First to recognize that groups of plants and animals could be distinguished from other groups by their ability to mate with one another and produce offspring Places groups of reproductively isolated organisms into a single category called it species Noticed that species shared similarities with other species and grouped them as genus Carolus Linnaeus Created binomial nomenclature Added class and order, basis for taxonomy He included humans in the system He believe fixity but later challenged it Taxonomy: branch of science concerned witht eh rules of classifying organisms on the basis of evolutionary relationships Binomial nomenclature: genus and species names are used to refer to species Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon Published Natural History in 1749 Stressed the importance of change in the universe and int the changing nature of species Believed when groups of organism migrated to new areas they altered because od adapation to a different environment Rejected idea that one species could give rise to another Erasmus Darwin Believed that life originated in the seas and that all species had descended from a common ancestor Jean-Baptise Lamarck Believed that if the external environment changed an animals would also change to accommodate the new circumstances Results in an increase or decrease of a body part and therefore the body part would be modified Physical changes would occur based on bodies needs Fluids and forces would be directed to the point and the body part would be modified This alteration made the animal better so it was passed on to its offspring Called inheritance of acquired characteristics or use-disuse theory Made fun of and dismissed cuz not genetically correct But he emphasized the importance of interactions between organism and the external environment Coined the term biology Georges Cuiver Explained concept of extinction Believed in fixity

Suggest theory called Catastrophism Catastrophism: the view that the Earths geological landscape is the result of violent cataclysmic events. This view was promoted by Cuvier, especially in opposition to Lamarck After a natural disruption that killed plants and animals species from unaffected regions would migrate to the affected region After each disaster the species became more modern because they were a result of modern creation His explanation avoided evolution but still accounted from the change in the fossils Thomas Malthus 1798 wrote An Essay of the Principle of Population which helped both Darwin and Alfred Wallace with their theory of natural selection Warned that increased number of humans would lead to famine Malthus proposed that as population size increases food supplies remained the same Darwin and Wallace realized that when population size is limited by the availability of resources, there must be constant competition for food and water Competition was the key to natural selection Charles Lyell Argued that the geological processes observed in the present are the same as those in the past Uniformitarianism: theory that the earths features are the result of long-term process that continues to operate in the present as they did in the past. Elaborated on the Lyell, this theory opposed catastrophism and contributed strongly to the concept of immense geological time Natural destructions altered earths geology Proved that earth is a lot older than what was predicted because to the slow changes to the geology Charles Darwin HMS Beagle on Dec. 17th 1831 Came across fossils of giant animals that looked very much like species that still lived in the same place just bigger At the Galapagos island noticed that vegetation and animals shared many similarities with those on the mainlands of south America Recognized that Galapagos finches all descended from the common mainland finces and had been modified to fit the environment Noticed that sexual reproduction increased variations By 1844 he had written about Natrual Selection but feared he did not have enough evidence to support it and did not publish it right away Alfred Russel Wallace 1855 published his paper stating that species were descended from other species and the the appearance of a new species was influenced by the environmental factors In 1858 published another paper which lead Darwin to publish is info abt natural selection In December 1859 Darwin published On the Origin of Species which proved natural selection