Evolution

Before
Darwin
SBI3U Biology
Charles Darwin, 1809 - 1882
British Naturalist
Developed ideas of
Natural Selection,
Evolution
Traveled the world on
HMS Beagle
Published: On the
Origin of Species,
Descent of Man,
Voyage of the Beagle, &
works on emotions,
botany, domestication
The Beagle Voyage, 1831 - 1836
Gave Darwin an extensive opportunity to observe
organisms & fossils virtually worldwide, and to formulate
new theories from his own observations & works he read.
The Galapagos Islands
Possibly the most famous stop on the five year voyage
Unique organisms challenged Darwin to think about their
origins
Is Change Possible?
Before Darwin, most people wouldve
said no, whether from a scientific
perspective or otherwise

Erasmus Darwin (Charles
grandfather) felt that species could
change over time & even become
extinct.

He felt change could happen
through will, and that it
represented a degeneration of
forms
Change is necessary!
Darwin enjoyed reading about
Geology, and was well-versed in
the leading ideas of the time:
Gradualism
Uniformitarianism
Catastrophism
New ideas were arising, many
fossils being discovered; the
science of Stratigraphy
comes to be.

Gradualism
Earth can only change slowly
The uniform & constant
change of our planet can be a
model for the change in
species
Fossils indicate species have
changed, and some are extinct
UNIFORMITARIANISM
Geological change on Earth
has been constant & slow

Processes of change & rate of
change have stayed the same:
erosion, earthquakes, etc.

Earth must be much older and
life must change on a changing
planet, in order to survive.
Catastrophism
Change on Earth can be, at
times, fast: floods, volcanos
Local change can be much
faster than global
Global catastrophes possible?
The strata of the Earth were
formed with successive
catastrophes
Fossils = the victims of these
catastrophes, whether large-
scale or local.
If everyones changing, what makes
you so Special!?
Darwin knew that organisms
showed enormous variety of
adaptations in form & behaviour
Some forms are lost to us, as
evidenced by fossils; living
species must have something
good about them
Struggle for
Existence &
Survival
Variable Reproduction
Not all species reproduce at
the same rate, nor with the
same fecundity (number of
offspring)
Something similar happens
within a species, also.
So this must mean not every
individual can survive.
There must be a struggle.

Survival of the Fittest
Thomas Malthus
If left unchecked, populations
tend to grow exponentially
But, no single species is
overrunning the Earth
Limited resources make a
struggle for survival necessary
Those who get the resources
are most fit to survive.
*His essay, On principles of population,
upset Darwin, since he advocated
controlling human population by not
allowing social welfare programs!
Change must be Heritable!
Change in an individual is only
useful if it can be passed on to
offspring & future generations
Several ideas existed for this,
none of which were correct.
This problem daunted Darwin
All he had to work with were his
own faulty theories, and
The Theory of
Acquired
Characteristics
Acquired Characteristics
Jean Baptiste de LaMarck
Use or Disuse determined which
traits would become prominent
Change could come by want or
perceived need (I think I can, I
think I can.)
Giraffes got their necks by
stretching & trying really hard
Not quite!

Putting it All Together:
Variation within a species is heritable
Organisms tend to produce more offspring
than can survive, given limited resources
A struggle to exist ensues, with not all
offspring surviving long enough to reproduce
Those individuals with traits adaptive or
favourable to a given environment will survive
long enough to pass on those traits; this is
Natural Selection
Over long periods of time, many small gradual
changes lead to big changes in the traits of a
species; this is Evolution descent, with
change.