Evolution

- Gradual change over time

1. Geological Evolution: gradual change on the earth over time
2. Gradual change in living organisms over time
- Scientific the]ory backed by many sources of evidence
- Evidence includes:
1. Embryological similarities
2. Fossil records
3. Comparative anatomy
4. Molecular biology
Embryology

- Comparing the embryos of different organisms and looking for similarities as

they develop.
- The longer two species are similar during development, the more closely related
they are
1. These similarities come from a common ancestor

Fossil Record

- We can date fossils by rock layer and by carbon dating to estimate when the
organism was alive
- Comparing older fossils with younger fossils can help us observe how life has
changed over time (less carbon=older)
- The fossil record is incomplete because we simply haven’t found everything there
is to find
- Transitional fossils: A fossil that exhibits characteristics of both ancestral and
derived forms
1. Transitional fossils help show intermediate stages of evolution between
extinct species and modern ones

Comparative anatomy

- Scientists acn compare the physical form of organisms

- The relationship between structure and function show how closely related
organisms are
1. homologous structures
- Parts of different organisms that have similar structures but
different functions
 - Supports divergent evolution: Species separated from a common
ancestor ad became more different over time
- Divergent evolution leads to speciation, the creation of new species
(populations become so different they can no longer reproduce)
2. Vestigal structures
- Homologous structures that serve little to no function in the
modern day organism
- Remnants of structures important to an organism's ancestors
3. Analogous structures
- Same functions but different structures
- Supports convergent evolution: organisms evolved different ways
from different ancestors, driven by environmental pressures to
develop similar adaptations
- Still a common ancestor, but the trait did not originate from the
ancestor
- Supports convergent evolution: An evolutionary process which
unrelated organisms evolve structures, traits, or morphological
features that have the same function as opposed to divergent
evolution and parallel evolution
- Organisms evolved different ways from diffeerennt ancestors,
driven by environmental pressures to develop similar adaptations
Molecular Biology

- All organism shave traits determined by their DNA

- Closely related species generally have amino acid sequences that are more
similar than distantly related species
- A relatively newer type of evidence that further supports or refutes relationships
previously made

05/18/2024

Jean Baptiste Lamarck

- Originally believed in “The fixity of species”

1. Species are fixed and do not change over time
- After studying biology, he changed his mind
- Developed his theory for evolution in 1809 (50 yrs before Darwin’s book)
1. Believed species evolved from preexisting species
2. Proposed changes were caused by an animal’s need to adapt to changes
in the environment
- Thought that evolution was caused by two forces
 1. Complexifying force: Organisms bodies get more complex as they move
up the ladder of phyla, at a species level
2. Adaptive force: organisms bodies change depending on changes in the
environment at an individual level
- Law of Use and Disuse: the more animals use a particular part of
their bodies, the stronger and better developed the part becomes
- The inheritance of Acquired Characteristics: Lamarck assumed
characteristics of an organism developed through use and disuse
could be passed onto offspring (not true, traits are only passed
through genetics)
Charles Darwin

- A naturalist who studied at Cambridge

- “Father of Evolution”
- Darwin wanted to know
1. Where did the variety in living organisms come from

Charles Lyell

- Geologist
- Proposed the earth is very old and has been changing slowly over millions of
years

Thomas Malthus

- Economist
- Proposed human population growth potential exceeded the rate at which
resources could be produced, which would lead to suffering (disease, famine,
etc.)
- Overpopulation in species will lead to competition

Artificial selection
- Humans identify desirable traits in an organism and take steps to enhance and
perpetuate those traits in future generations (selective breeding)
- If humans can pick traits in future generations, why can’t nature?

Second Voyage to HMS beagle

- Lasted 5 years
- Darwin collected notes and ate the specimens they studied
 - Took very meticulous notes

The Galapagos Islands

- Off coast of Ecuador in the Pacific

- Lots of species
1. Some were alike but had differences based on where they were located
on the island
2. All animals resembled species on the mainland but were always different
in certain characteristics
- How or why do you think these differences occurred?
- Darwin believed that species migrated from mainland to the Galapagos
- Species developed special adaptations suited for their environment (where they
were on the island)
1. Driven by geographical isolation

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

1. Overproduction: Species produce far more offspring than are necessary to

maintain the population. Populations remain more or less constant because only
a small fraction of offspring live long enough to reproduce
2. Competition: Space and food are limited. Individuals compete with their own
species and other species for necessities of life. Only a small fraction will survive
to reproduce.
3. Variation: Characteristics within individuals carry (run faster, bigger size,
different color, etc.)
- Some variations impact an organism’s fitness: Combination of physical
traits and behaviors that helps an organism survive and reproduce in that
specific environment.
4. Adaptations: Any kind of trait that is inherited that improves an organism's
chance of survival and reproduction in a given environment
- Can be behavioral, physiological, or anatomical.
5. Natural selection: Environment selects organisms with optimal traits to be the
parents of the next generation.
6. Speciation: Over many generations, favorable adaptations accumulate in
populations and unfavorable ones disappear. When the changes are so great,
the result is a new species.

What Darwin didn’t know

- Where variations come from and how they are passed on

 - Because of this, he couldn’t distinguish between inherited variations and
acquired variations
1. Ex. A plant is short bc of poor soil conditions, not necessarily inherited
functions

Variation
Inheritance
Survive and reproduce
Time
Adaptations

05/28/2024

Phylogenetic Trees (Cladograms)

Horizontal: left(old) to right(new)

Vertical/diagonal: up
Terminal taxa: H
Outgroup: the control group
Sister Taxa: B and C
Clade: a group of organism(s) that share the same ancestor

- If the branch just stops and has no more little branches peeking out, the animal
went extinct