Nature of Science

We stated in the first sentence of this chapter that zoology is the scientific study of animals. A
basic understanding of zoology therefore requires understanding what science is, what it is not,
and how we gain knowledge using the scientific method. Science is a way of asking questions about
the natural world and sometimes obtaining precise answers to them. Although science, in the
modern sense, has arisen within the last 200 years or so, a tradition of asking questions about the
natural world is ancient. In this section, we examine the methodology that zoology shares with
science as a whole. These procedures for constricting data-based explanations of natural
phenomena distinguish sciences from activities that we exclude from the realm of science, such
as art and religion. Despite an enormous impact of science on our lives, many people have only a
minimal understanding of science.

For example, on March 19, 1981, the governor of Arkansas signed into law the Balanced Treatment
for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act (Act 590 of 1981). This act falsely presented
"creation-science" as a valid scientific endeavor. "Creation-science" is instead a religious position
advocated by a minority of the American religious community, and it does not qualify as science.
Enactment of this law led to a historic lawsuit tried in December 1981 in the court of Judge William
R. Overton, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas. The American Civil Liberties Union
brought this suit on behalf of 23 plaintiffs, including religious leaders and groups representing
several denominations, individual parents, and educational associations. The plaintiffs contended
that the law violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits "establishment
of religion" by government. This prohibition precludes passing a law that would aid one religion or
prefer one religion over another. On January 5, 1982, Judge Overton permanently stopped the
State of Arkansas from enforcing Act 590. Considerable testimony during the trial described the
process of science. Some witnesses defined science simply, if not very informatively, as "what is
accepted by the scientific community" and "what scientists do." However, on the basis of other
testimony by scientists, Judge Overton stated explicitly these

essential characteristics of science:

1. It is guided by natural law.

2. It has to be explanatory by reference to natural law.

3. It is testable against the observable world.

4. Its conclusions are tentative and therefore not necessarily the final word.

5. It is falsifiable.

Pursuit of scientific knowledge must be guided by the physical and chemical laws that govern the
state of existence. Scientific knowledge must explain what is observed by reference to natural law
without requiring intervention of a supernatural being or force. We must be able to observe events
in the real world, directly or indirectly, to test hypotheses about nature. If we draw a conclusion
relative to some event, we must be ready always to discard or to modify our conclusion if further
observations contradict it. As Judge Overton stated, "While anybody is free to approach a scientific
inquiry in any fashion they choose, they cannot properly describe the methodology used as
scientific if they start with a conclusion and refuse to change it regardless of the evidence
developed during the course of the investigation." Science lies outside religion, and the results of
science do not favor one religious position over another. Unfortunately, the religious position
formerly called "creation-science" has reappeared in American politics with the name "intelligent-
design theory." We are forced once again to defend the teaching of science against this
scientifically meaningless dogma. On December 20, 2005, Judge John E. Jones III of the U.S. District
Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled unconstitutional the teaching of intelligent
design, which had been mandated by the Dover school board. The local voters already had
rejected the eight board members who supported the intelligent-design requirement, replacing
them with candidates who actively opposed teaching intelligent design as science.

Hypothetico-deductive method

Control – The part of an experiment where NOTHING changes, to have a group to reference
against.
Independent Variable – What is being tested
Dependent Variable – anything that happens as a result of the Independent Variable.
• Powerful theories that guide extensive research are called PARADIGMS
Experimental Science vs. Evolutionary Science
Experimental Evolutionary
Answers proximal causes Answers ultimate causes
How things work NOW How things CAME TO BE

Darwin's Theory of Evolution Darwin's theory of evolution is now over 150 years old. Darwin
articulated the complete theory when he published his famous book On the Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection in England in 1859 (Figure 1.12). Biologists today often hear the
questions, "What is Darwinism?" and "Do biologists still accept Darwin's theory of evolution?"
given simple answers, because Darwinism encompasses several different, although mutually
compatible, theories. Professor Ernst Mary of Harvard University argued that Darwinism should
be viewed as five major theories. These five theories have somewhat different origins and different
fates and cannot be treated as only a single statement. The theories are (1) perpetual change, (2)
common descent, (3) multiplication of species, (4) gradualism, and (5) natural selection. The first
three theories are generally accepted as having universal application throughout the living world.
The theories of gradualism and natural selection are controversial among evolutionists, although
both are strongly advocated by a large portion of the evolutionary community and are important
components of the Darwinian evolutionary paradigm. Gradualism and natural selection clearly
occur during evolution, but their explanatory power as theories might not be as widespread as
Darwin intended. Legitimate scientific controversies regarding gradualism and natural selection
often are misrepresented by creationists as challenges to the first three theories listed, although
the validity of those first three theories is strongly supported by all relevant observations.
1. Perpetual change. This is the basic theory of evolution on which the others are based. It states
that the living world is neither constant nor perpetually cycling, but is always changing. The varying
forms of organisms undergo measurable changes across generations throughout time. This theory
originated in antiquity but did not gain widespread acceptance until Darwin advocated it in the
context of his other four theories. "Perpetual change" is documented by the fossil record, which
clearly refutes creationists' claims for a recent origin of all living forms. Because it has withstood
repeated testing and is supported by an overwhelming number of observations, we now regard
"perpetual change" as a scientific fact; evidence has rejected all rational alternatives to this theory.
2. Common descent. The second Darwinian theory, "common descent," states that all forms of life
descend from a common ancestor through a branching of lineages. The opposing argument, that
the different forms of life arose independently and descended to the present in linear, unbranched
genealogies, is refuted by comparative studies of organismal form, cell structure, and
macromolecular structures (including those of the genetic material, DNA). All of these studies
confirm the theory that life's history has the structure of a branching evolutionary tree, called a
phylogeny. Species that share recent common ancestry have more similar features at all levels
than do species whose most recent common ancestor occurred early in the history of life. Much
current research is guided by Darwin's theory of common descent toward reconstructing life's
phylogeny using the patterns of similarity and dissimilarity observed among species. The resulting
phylogeny serves as the basis for our taxonomic classification of animals.
3. Multiplication of species. Darwin's third theory states that the evolutionary process produces
new species by splitting and transforming older ones. Species are now generally viewed as
reproductively distinct populations of organisms that usually but not always differ from each other
in organismal form. Once species are fully formed, interbreeding among members of different
species does not occur or is too restricted to permit the species' lineages to merge. Evolutionists
generally agree that the splitting and transformation of lineages produces new species, although
there is still much controversy concerning details of this process) and the precise meaning of the
term "species”. Much active scientific research examines historical processes that generate new
species.
4. Gradualism. Gradualism states that the large differences in anatomical traits that characterize
disparate species originate through the accumulation of many small incremental changes over
very long periods of time. This theory is important because genetic changes having very large
effects on organismal form are usually harmful to an organism. It is possible, however, that some
genetic variants whose expression causes large changes in organismal form are nonetheless
sufficiently beneficial to be favored by natural selection. For example, some members of the fish
species Cichlasoma minckleyi have greatly enlarged jaws, muscles, and teeth capable of crushing
snails. These individuals look so different from other members of their species that they were
mistakenly considered a separate species. A simple gt or developmental switch nonetheless
appears to prove this "molariform" morph in one large evolutionary rather than through a graded
series of intermediate fi Therefore, although gradual evolution is known to c it may not explain the
origins of all structural defense that we observe among species. Scientist actively studying this
question.
5. Natural selection. Natural selection, Darwin's most fa theory, rests on three propositions. First,
there is varies among organisms (within populations) for anatomical behavioral, and physiological
traits. Second, the varieties at least partly heritable so that offspring tend to rest their parents.
Third, organisms with different variant are expected to leave different numbers of offspring for
future generations. Variants that permit their possessors effectively to exploit their environments
will prefer survive and be transmitted to future generations. Over generations, favorable new
traits will spread through population. Accumulation of such changes leads, over periods of time,
to production of new organismal characteristics and new species. Natural selection is therefore a
process that generates novel forms from the small individual variations that occur among
organisms within a population.
Mendelian Heredity and the Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
Genetic Approach The genetic approach consists of mating or "crossing" populations of organisms
that are true-breeding for alternative traits, and then following hereditary transmission of those
traits through subsequent generations. "True-breeding" means that a population maintains across
generations only one of the alternative traits when propagated in isolation from other populations.
For example, most populations of fruit flies produce only red-eyed individuals, generation after
generation, regardless of the environments in which they are raised; such strains are true-
breeding for.
 Mendel developed the law of independent assortment and the law of particulate
inheritance and disproved that all offspring were a blend of their parents. This slightly
changed Darwin’s theory, but made it work. The new theory of evolution, based on
Mendelian Genetics is known as Neo-Darwinism.
Congress passed a series of Amendments to the Animal Welfare Act, which covers animal care in
laboratories and other facilities.

 Reduction: reducing the number of animals cell cultures when possible

needed for

experimentation

• Refinement: refining the techniques used in

experimentation to lower stress and suffering for

teste animals

• Replacement: replacing live animals with

simulations or