Linnean

• Linnaean System


  • Developed by Carolus Linnaeus
  • All modern classification systems have their roots in Linnaeus’ system
  • Taxa hierarchy: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
• Carolus Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist who lived during the 1700s
• Carolus Linnaeus is known as the “father of taxonomy”
• Carolus Linnaeus tried to describe and classify the entire known natural world
• In 1735, Carolus Linnaeus published his classification system in a work called Systema Naturae (“System of Nature”)
• Taxa hierarchy in Linnaean System

  • Kingdom
  • Phylum
  • Class
  • Order
  • Family
  • Genus
  • Species
• Thomas Malthus was an English economist
• Thomas Malthus wrote a popular essay called “On Population”
• Thomas Malthus argued that human populations have the potential to grow faster than the resources they need, leading to disease and famine
• Thomas Malthus believed that disease and famine control population size by killing off the weakest people
• Catastrophism was a theory developed by Georges Cuvier based on paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin
• Georges Cuvier observed gaps in the fossil record which he interpreted as mass extinction events, leading to the development of catastrophism theory
• Catastrophism states that natural history has been punctuated by catastrophic events that altered the way life developed and rocks were deposited
• In geology, gradualism is a theory developed by James Hutton according to which profound changes to the Earth occur gradually
• Gradualism theory inspired an evolution theory in paleontology, suggesting that species appeared by the gradual transformation of ancestral forms
• Gradualism


  A theory developed by James Hutton in geology according to which profound changes to the Earth occur slowly over time
• Gradualism in paleontology


  An evolution theory where species appear by the gradual transformation of ancestral species
• Gradualism in evolution theory

  The population of a species is transformed slowly and progressively into a new species by the accumulation of micro-evolutionary changes in the genetic heritage
• Law of use and disuse

  States that when certain organs become specially developed as a result of some environmental need, then that state of development is hereditary and can be passed on to progeny
• Charles Darwin's assumption


  Species can change over time, influenced by the fossils he found
• Charles Darwin's observation from Lyell

  Earth and its life were very old, providing enough time for evolution to produce the great diversity of life
• Charles Darwin's knowledge from Malthus


  Populations could grow faster than their resources, leading to a "struggle for existence"
• Charles Darwin's inference from artificial selection


  Offspring have variations that occur by chance and can be inherited, leading to the survival of certain variations in the "struggle for existence"
• Charles Darwin's concept of fitness

  An organism's relative ability to survive and produce fertile offspring, with nature selecting the most useful variations through natural selection
• Charles Darwin's understanding from artificial selection

  Artificial selection can change domestic species over time, leading to the inference that natural selection can also change species over time, potentially resulting in the evolution into a new species
• Several scientists contributed ideas about how evolution occurs