Lamarck vs.

Darwin
Introduction to change in
organisms
What is a theory?
 The most probable
explanation for a large
set of data based on
the best available
evidence
 Summarizes a

hypothesis or group of
hypotheses that have
been supported with
repeated testing
What is a species?
What is a population?
 Species – group of a
single type of organisms
that interbreed and are
reproductively isolated
 White-tailed deer
 Population – refers to a
group of organisms of a
particular species living
in a certain area.
 White-tailed deer on Mt.
Nebo
Lamarck’s Theory
 Jean Baptiste Lamarck: 1800’s
 Believed:
 Change Occurs Over Time
 inheritance of acquired
characteristics
 acquired changes were passed
to offspring
 Law of Use and Disuse
 If a body part was used, it got
stronger
 If body part NOT used, it
deteriorated
 Examples: Body builders or
pierced ears
Lamarck’s Theory of
Evolution
 Giraffes all had
SHORT necks
originally
 Giraffe’s Necks got
LONGER from
stretching for food
 “Acquired” trait (long
necks) then passed to
offspring
 Giraffe population
became long-necked
 Lamarck’s Theory of
Evolution
 More examples
 Traits Acquired During Ones Lifetime
Would Be Passed To Offspring
Clipped ears and tails of dogs could be passed to
offspring!
Think Back to the bell
work question…
What is the difference between acquired traits
and inherited traits?
Which category would the length of a giraffe’s
neck fall under?
Which category would a dogs clipped ears or
tail fall under?

Why? What is the real difference between

these traits? Think about science and biology.
Lamarck’s Mistakes
 Was he correct??
 NO!
 Traits are passed down from one
generation to the next by GENES,
not by an individual’s life
experiences or activities
 Lamarck did NOT know how traits
were inherited (Traits are passed
through genes)
 Genes Are NOT Changed By
Activities In Life
 Change Through Mutation Occurs
Before An Organism Is Born
Voyage of the Beagle
Charles Darwin
 Born Feb. 12, 1809
 Joined Crew of HMS
Beagle, 1831
 Naturalist
 5 Year Voyage
around world
 Astounded By
Variety of Life
Voyage of the Beagle

During His Travels, Darwin

Made Numerous
Observations And Collected
Evidence That Led Him To
Propose A Revolutionary
Hypothesis About The Way
Life Changes Over Time
Darwin’s Belief’s
 Survivalof the fittest OR
natural selection
 Food and resources are
limited
 So organisms have to
COMPETE to get them
(lions fight for food,
space, mates …)
• OVER PRODUCE too
many organisms
• Not all offspring will
survive only the MOST
FIT (not always the
biggest or strongest!)
What happened to the
giraffe’s?
 Survival of the fittest or natural
selection
 Natural selection said the giraffes
with short necks had less food to
eat
 Why?
 the food resources changed to leaves
only on the upper branches
 What happened?
 short necks could not reach upper
branches and did not survive (couldn’t
pass on genes)
 Long neck giraffes survived & reproduced
because they were able to reach the food
 Life is good. I
never want The trees are
anything to
getting taller &
change.
we aren’t. We
need to
stretch our
necks to reach
the food

I am so glad
Junior here
doesn’t have to
go through the
MUST KEEP stretching
STRETCHIN because he was
G!! born with a long
neck 
Pick an animal not discussed in class.
Make a comic strip (min. 4 panels each) of the
following:
Show how your animal may have evolved by
way of Lamarck’s hypothesis of acquired traits.
Show how this same animal may have evolved
by way of Darwin’s hypothesis of natural
selection.
Make sure to color your comic strip & that it is
neat & clearly depicted (use rulers for your
Evidence of
Evolution
 Fossil Records
 Molecular Records (Carbon Dating
and DNA)
 Embryology
 Anatomical Records
 Fossil Records
Fossils are the preserved remains, tracks, or
traces of once-living organisms
Robert Hooke in 1668- 1st to propose that
fossils are the remains of plants & animals.
Provides the most direct evidence for
macroevolution
 Missing Links

Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus) : stood

about 47 inches tall and weighed
about 110 pounds. Took 15 years to
unearth.
Lived
Lucy (Australopithecus 4.4 million
afarensis) years
: 40 ago
% complete skeleton.
Lived 3.2 million years ago
 Fossils have been
found linking all
the major groups

 The forms linking

mammals to
reptiles are
particularly well
known

Fig. 13.4 Whale

“missing links”
Archaeopteryx. The most primitive
More
known bird. Lived ~150 million years
ago.
Missing
Links
Ambulocetus: The walking
whale. This animal could
walk as well as swim. It
lived ~50 million years
ago.
 Fossil Records

 Relative Dating (aka

Law of Superposition)
by Nicolaus Steno
 Molecular Records
 Certain atoms are known to decay (break
down) at a specific rate. Scientists can look at
these atoms to determine how old an organic
object is.
 Radioactive isotope 14C- gradually decays over
time back to 14N (known as Carbon Dating)
 It takes ~5600 years for half of the 14C present in a
sample to be converted to 14N.
 This length of time is called the half-life.
 Half life (t1/2): the time needed for half of the
atoms of the isotope to decay
 For fossils older than 50,000 yrs scientists use
other isotopes such as, potassium isotope
 t1/2 of K = 1.3 billion years to turn to argon ( 40Ar)
40
 Molecular Record
 New alleles (genes in
DNA) arise by mutations
and they come to
predominance through
favorable selection
 Thus, evolutionary
changes involve a
continual accumulation
of genetic changes
Distantly-related organisms accumulate
a greater number of evolutionary
differences than closely-related ones
 The greater the
evolutionary distance

Fig. 13.5 Molecules

reflect evolutionary
divergence

The greater the number

of amino acid differences
 Embryology
 Similar structural forms can be seen in
early stages of development of different
organisms.
 Anatomical Record
 Similar structural forms can be seen in various
living organisms
 Ex: Homologous structures, Analogous structures and
Vestigial structures
 All vertebrates share a basic set of developmental instructions

Relict
developmental
forms
 Homologous structures: Have same structure but
not necessarily the same function. They are all
derived from the same part of a common ancestor.
 As vertebrates have evolved, the same bones are
sometimes put to different uses, yet they can still be
seen, their presence betraying their evolutionary past.
• Analogous structures: Structures of
different species having similar or
corresponding function but not from the
same evolutionary origin
• (Different animals adapt in similar fashion when
challenged by similar opportunities)
 The feature has the same function but looks

different.

They are the result of convergent evolution

 Vestigial structures:
 Although they had a purpose &
function in the past they are largely or
entirely functionless now.
 a vestigial structure may retain lesser
functions or develop new ones.

The blue whale has tiny hind leg bones under its tail. The blind mole rat has tiny eyes completely
covered by a layer of skin.
•Evolution is
the slow, gradual
change in a
population of
organisms
over time…

a looooooooong
time!
 What determines
survival?
 Natural Selection
 Adaptations (traits) that help
individuals survive
 survive predators
 survive disease
 compete for food
 compete for territory
 traits that help individuals
reproduce
 attracting a mate
 compete for nesting sites
 successfully raise young
 PATTERNS OF EVOLUTION
Coevolution: Change of two or more
species in close association with
each other.

EXAMPLE: Bumblebees
and the flowers they
pollinate have co-
evolved so that both
have become
dependent on each
other for survival.
Convergent Evolution: organisms
that are very similar but are not
closely related. This happens
because of a change within the
environment.

Analogous structures are the result of convergent

DIVERGENT EVOLUTION:Two or
more related species that become
more dissimilar due to different
environments.

•This usually produces another species

EXAMPLE:
GALAPAGOS
FINCHES
 Artificial Selection: Creating
unnatural characteristics by
breeding species to promote a
certain type of offspring.
EXAMPLE: Domestic dogs

Chocolate German German Shorthaired

lab Shorthaired Pointer Pointer Lab
(AKA:Rocco)
 EVOLUTIONARY FORCES
 Five evolutionary forces can significantly
alter the allele frequencies of a population

 1. Mutation
 2. Migration
 3. Genetic drift
 4. Nonrandom mating
 5. Selection
 Mutation

 The ultimate source

of new variation
 Errors in DNA
replication and
change in DNA due
to extraneous factors
 Mutation rates are
too low to
significantly alter
allele frequencies on
their own
 Migration
 Movement of individuals from one population
to another
 Immigration: movement into a population
 Emigration: movement out of a population

A very
potent
agent of
change
 Genetic Drift
 Random loss of alleles
 More likely to occur in
smaller population

 Founder effect
 Small group of
individuals establishes
a population in a new
location

 Bottleneck effect
 A sudden decrease
in population size to
natural forces
 Mating that occurs Nonrandom Mating
more or less
frequently than
expected by chance
 Inbreeding
 Mating with relatives
or self
 Increases
homozygosity
 Outbreeding
 Mating with non-
relatives
 Increases
heterozygosity
 Selection
 Some individuals
leave behind more
offspring than others

 Artificial selection
 Breeder selects for
desired
characteristics

 Natural selection
 Environment selects
for adapted
characteristics
 Large blunt
horns

Small bony
protuberance

Fig. 13.3
Evolution in the
titanotheres
Hoofed mammals
Example of Natural
Selection
A classic example of natural
selection is the Peppered moths
during Industrial Revolution in
Europe
 Forms of Selection
 Selection is a statistical concept
 One cannot predict the fate of any single individual
 But it is possible to predict which kind of individual
will tend to become more common in a population

 Three types of natural selection have been

identified
 Stabilizing selection
 Acts to eliminate both extreme phenotypes
 Disruptive selection
 Acts to eliminate intermediate phenotypes
 Directional selection
 Acts to eliminate a single extreme phenotype
Fig. 13.12 Three kinds of natural selection
 Stabilizing Selection Increase in the
frequency of the
 Actsto eliminate intermediate phenotype

both extreme
phenotypes
 In humans, infants
with intermediate
weight at birth
have the highest
survival rate
 In chicken, eggs of
intermediate weight
have the highest Fig. 13.13
hatching success
Disruptive Selection
 Actsto eliminate
Can open tough shells
intermediate phenotypes of large seeds

 In the African seed-

cracker finch, large- and
small-beaked birds
predominate
 Intermediate-beaked birds
are at a disadvantage
 Unable to open large
seeds
 Too clumsy to open More adept at
handling small seeds
small seeds
 Directional Selection
 Actsto eliminate a
single extreme
phenotype
 Drosophila flies
that flew toward
light were
eliminated from
the population
 The remaining
flies were mated
and the Phototropic flies are far less
experiment frequent in the population

repeated for 20
generations
 Adaptation by natural selection is
responsible for the evolutionary
changes within a species (micro) and
the accumulation of these changes lead
to the development of a new species
(macro)
TYPES OF ADAPTATIONS

 Structural
 Behavioral
 Physiological

Let’s look at each type as we consider 2

species: the tundra & icecap-dwelling
arctic fox & the desert dwelling fennec fox.
 arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) fennec fox (Vulpes zerda)
Structural Adaptation: The form that the
organism takes.
EX: Big ears and small ears of foxes.
Heat escapes easily from the blood that passes through
the vessels in the fennec fox’s ears. Cool blood from the
ears then circulates through the body & keeps the fennec
fox from overheating.
Behavioral Adaptation: These are
innate (inherited) actions that
individuals of the species perform.
 Arctic fox:
 Can be active any time of the day;
ready to find food whenever available.
 Fennec fox:
 Is nocturnal; sleeps during the day &
hunts at night
 Physiological Adaptation:
Related to the biochemical
processes at work within an
organism’s body.

 Compare the processing of food & water:

 Arctic fox: food is scarce in winter; effective
at storing food energy as fat.
 Fennec fox: little free water available;
adapted to get all moisture it needs from
fruit, roots, & leaves.
 QUESTION:
A fennec fox raised in captivity away
from other fennecs will try to dig a
burrow in its cage. Explain why
burrow-digging is an innate behavior,
not a learned behavior.
ANSWER:
The behavior is instinctive because
the fennec fox did not have to be
taught the behavior by another