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HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY
THEORY
European Explorers

EVOLUTION & Greek Philosophers

Plato and Aristotle
GENETICS

EVOLUTION BY NATURAL
EVOLUTION OF EVOLUTION
SELECTION
B iblical interpretations
and ancient philosophy Evolution is not a theory, but a
F ossils fact that species change over
G eological record time.
L amarck (1744-1829)
I nheritance of acquired
characteristics Natural Selection is Darwin s
P ublic acceptance theory of Evolution.
F laws

THOMAS MALTHUS
Father of modern
Demography IF THERE IS COMPETITION,
Essay On the
Principal of WHO SURVIVES?
Population (1798)
Competition

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CHARLES DARWIN & ALFRED LOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR THE ORIGIN

WALLACE OF SPECIES:
T he Beagle Mortality is not random, its biased by
1 837- Darwin fit between organism and environment
started writing The like begets like
Origin of Species
Favorable traits
P ublished it in become common
1859 over time
A lfred Wallace

3 THINGS MUST BE PRESENT FOR GENETICS

NATURAL SELECTION TO OCCUR
D arwins questions
Variability
G regor Mendel (1822-1884)
G enes, alleles
H eredity
D ominant/recessive
H omozygous/heterozygous
D ifferential
A sexual vs. sexual
Reproduction
reproduction

GENETICS & SEXUAL REPRODUCTION

MUTATIONS
G ametes
Fertilization P ermanent change in the
Variation DNA sequence of a gene
H ow inheritance
takes place and I ntroduces variation into the
why there is population
variation
H ugo de Vries
(1848-1935)
m utations

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ENVIRONMENT
E verything external to an
organism
P hysical and social
I ncludes culture
PHENOTYPE
P hysical manifestation of the
genotype
m orphology
p hysiology
b ehavior
PHENOTYPE AND PHENOTYPIC
VARIATION
P henotypes: always result of
DNA instructions and
environmental input
(individuals)
P henotypic variation: may be
the result of the environment,
genetics, or both (populations)
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GENOTYPE
A particular
combination of genes
possessed by an
organism
D NA
PHENOTYPE
M ay vary predictably
with genotype
C an vary according to
environment, even if
genotype is consistent
P henotypes are always
the result of BOTH
genes (DNA) and the
environment
BEHAVIOR
Behavior is a phenotype
Thus all behavior is the result
of genetics and the
environment
However, behavioral variation
is primarily the result of the
environment
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Generation 1 Generation 2
ONTOGENY
Genotype Phenotype Genotype
D evelopment; the
period when you Ontogeny Natural Selection
grow up
D evelops a fetus Environment
into an adult

CULTURE AND NATURAL

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
SELECTION
A ll about reproduction
Ontogeny culture turns
N ot lifespan
genotype into phenotype
Influences which phenotypes
are favored by selection

FITNESS ADAPTATION
How well an A trait that becomes
organism is common over time
adapted to the P articular problem
environment P articular organism
P articular environment

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SIR FRANCIS GALTON

NATURAL SELECTION
N ot egalitarian
Traits are adapted to
specific environments
C hooses among
available traits
(1822-1911)
Nature vs. nurture debate
Pioneer of Modern
Statistics
Genetic Determinist
Eugenics movement in
1884

EARLY AMERICAN
NATURAL SELECTION & BEHAVIOR
ANTHROPOLOGY
F ranz Boas B ehaviors are not heritable
M argaret Mead W hat is heritable is the ability to
respond to the environment
R uth Benedict
H umans can vary their behavior
more than any other species
Culture determines behavior.