Ch. 15

• Thomas Malthus proposed that the size of the human population is limited by the quantity of resources
• Lamarck incorrectly proposed the idea of "inheritance of acquired characteristics" where adaptations acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed to offspring
• Throughout his voyage, Darwin's viewpoint began changing due to influences from several other scientists before, during, and after his journey
• Fossil evidence includes transitional fossils that resemble two currently classified groups
• Organisms have heritable variation, compete for resources, differ in reproductive success, and become adapted through natural selection
• Darwin's Theory of Evolution includes observations of change over time, biogeographical observations, natural selection, adaptations, and evidence for evolution
• Darwin's Trip started in December 1831 on HMS Beagle
• As a 22-year-old naturalist, Darwin's unpaid job was to collect and record the geological and biological diversity during the 5-year voyage
• Lamarck was the first to offer a hypothesis on how evolution occurred via adaptation
• Biogeographical evidence shows how variability in a single ancestral population can lead to adaptation to different environments through natural selection
• Darwin came up with the mechanism of Natural Selection by 1842 but did not publish it until Alfred Wallace sent him a similar idea in 1858
• Artificial Selection and Common ancestry are examples of observations of selection
• Hutton's theory of slow gradual geologic change and uniformitarianism influenced Darwin
• Darwin used ideas from Malthus to develop the mechanism of natural selection after his voyage
• Darwin had a strong interest in natural science and interned with a botanist and geologist
• Homologous structures

  • Bird, bat, whale, cat - mammal
• South America, finches, marsupials

  • Illustrate how continents separated led to more continent-specific species
• Evolution is a theory about how life emerged following the origin of life
• Analogous structures are evidence of convergent evolution, not considered evidence of evolution
• Evolution involves mutation, natural selection, and chance
• Five pieces of evidence tie into the theory of evolution by providing support through fossils, biogeographical, anatomical, biochemical, and developmental evidence
• Endemic species


  • Marine iguanas in the Galapagos
• Analogous structures


  • Butterfly vs bird
• Criticisms of Evolution
• Archaeopteryx, whales with hindlimb reductions, Equus


  • Represent intermediate stages in evolution
• Transitional fossils do exist, but not all may be found due to preservation challenges
• Evolution is observable and testable through genetic studies and population trait changes