Evo bio ch 1&2

• What are some definitions of evolution?

  • Change in the properties of groups of organisms over the course of generations
  • Descent with modification
  • Change in allelic frequencies in a population over time
  • A change in species over time
• Hypothesis: Informed conjecture–What you think might be true given an observation


  Theory: Statement based on reasoning and evidence – Has never been proven wrong –Continually withstands more testing and evidence
• Absolute truth: Unattainable goal of theory – A theory could always find evidence to refute it
• François Jacob said that evolution is the basis for our understanding of biology
• Artificial selection can be seen in antibiotics and vegetables produced from wild mustard plant
• common ancestor of all life most likely started as a prokaryotic organism
• Evidence for Evolution:

  • Homology (similar structure)
  • Embryology
  • Vestigial Characters (a feature that a species inherited from an ancestor but that is now less elaborate and functional than in the ancestor)
  • Fossil record
  • Bio geography
  • Genetics
• Did humans evolve from chimpanzees? No. Humans evolved from a common ancestor that lived millions of years ago.
• Aristotle

  • proposed the 'ladder of life', which is a hierarchy of living things
  • change can happen
  • Tele - ological Thinking is Goal oriented
• Linnaeus: Father of taxonomy
• Georges Cuvier: Father of Paleontology
• Buffon: Proposed a common ancestry of humans and apes
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck:

  • First tree of life
  • Lamarckism: the idea that acquired characteristics are passed on to offspring
  • Exercised organs attract more “nervous fluid”
• Charles Darwin

  • Recognized differences in species
  • Differences could be chosen or favored
• Alfred Russel Wallace 


  • Father of biogeography
• Thomas Henry Huxley

  • Darwin’s Bulldog
  • Spokesman for evolution
• orthogenesis: the blueprint for an organisms final state is predetermined, and that all organisms may share the same information that includes the blueprint
• Mutationist Theories: Mutations are the cause of evolution.
• Genetic drift is the random change in allele frequencies in a population due to chance