ZOL 2603 summaries covering all topics in the module. Namely: the history of evolution, time, emergence and diversity of life, evidence, natural selection, speciation, co-evolution, life history strategies, living in groups, extinctions and primate evolution
ZOL2603 SUMMARIES
Topics covered in module:
The history of evolution
Time
Emergence and diversity of life
Evidence
Natural selection
Speciation
Co-evolution
Life history strategies
Living in groups
Extinctions
Primate evolution
1
,INTRODUCTION
Biological organisms are grouped into natural units of reproduction that we call species. Species
currently existing come from other species that existed in the past, through a process of descent with
modification.
Biological evolution is the historical process of transformation of a species into other descendent species
and its reverse is the extinction of the vast majority of species that have ever existed.
1802: theologian W. Paley publishes the work Natural Theology, he argues that the functional design of
the organisms evidenced the existence of an omniscient creator.
Argument had a great influence on 19th century naturalists
1859: The origin of the species by the British naturalist Charles Darwin
Darwin compiled and interpreted a large number of observations and experiments from very
diverse research disciplines and presented them as an irrefutable argument in favor of the fact
of evolution
Darwin also provided a mechanism to explain the complex and characteristic adaptations of
living beings: natural selection
Truly revolutionary thing in Darwin was to propose a natural mechanism to explain the genesis,
diversity and adaptation of organisms
Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin’s grandfather) realized the importance of the environment during
evolution. He was the author of the book Zoonomia in which he argued that species change was the
consequence of progressive transformation to withstand changes in internal and external environmental
pressure
Darwin’s Basic Evolutionary Theory conditions:
1. Intrinsic increase in the number of individuals within a species
2. Competition for limited resources
3. Survival of the few
Mechanism: Natural Selection, those individuals with more favorable features would on average fare
better than competitors and survive, passing on to their offspring those advantageous characteristics
2
,The study of evolution
Greek philosophers came up with many hypothetical notions to explain evolutionary change according
to which the progressive change from lower to higher levels was the result of reincarnation or of a
tendency of life forms to advance to a more perfect state
Fossils were accepted as evidence of old life forms that had died out
Creation theology has its roots in a version of the Bible based on faith, and according to this view the
Bible is a scientific textbook containing account of the creation in the book of Genesis, view of creation
leaves no room for any processes change
World is immutable and remains just as it was when created by god
Fossils are not accepted as evidence of extinct life forms
The most important event in the unfolding of the theory of evolution was the publication of Sir Charles
Lyell’s book Principles of geology between 1830 and 1833. He postulated the principle of
uniformitarianism:
The law of chemistry endophytic remain constant (they have not changed in the course of the
earth’s history)
Current geological processes can be examined by gradual, directionless processes
From 1831 to 1836 Darwin worked as a naturalist on the HMS Beagle, which was carrying out a survey of
South America and the Pacific. During this journey he observed the fauna and flora as well as collected
fossils from North and South America. These observations persuaded him that natural forces were
responsible for the present geological characteristics of the earth
3
, Studies and statements about evolution generally refer to one of two different aspects:
1. The investigations about the fact of evolution
e.g. paleontology, taxonomy, comparative biology, population biology
2. The mechanism of evolution
e.g. main object of population genetics (focus on factors/ forces/ processes that produce the
natural mechanisms that cause descent with modification
The modern theory of evolution is the dominant paradigm (theoretical framework) according to which
the observed variation, relationships, interactions and processes in biology can be explained. Theory of
natural selection was formulated by two scientists independent of one another (Charles Robert Darwin
and Alfred Wallace) and published in 1859.
DARWIN, WALLACE AND THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION
Darwin’s theory contains two major ideas:
1. Organisms change over time. Life on Earth has changed as descendants diverged from common
ancestors in the past
2. Evolution occurs by natural selection. Natural selection is the process in which living things with
beneficial traits produce more offspring than others do, this results in changes in the traits of
living things over time.
4
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