Lecture_Evolution
Lecture_Evolution
Content
• The development of the evolutionary theory
• Charles Darwin and Natural selection
• Evidence for evolution
• Formation of new species
"Nothing in biology makes
sense except in the light of
evolution.“
Besse Cooper
(116 years old)
Ancient views on evolution
• Pre-socratic Greek philosophers, such as
Anaximander and Empedocles:
– one type of animal could descend from an animal of
another type
Trilobites
sciencebuzz.org
In the early 1800s, Lamarck proposed that
• organisms evolve by the use and disuse of body parts
• acquired characteristics are passed on to offspring
Charles Darwin and Evolution
(1809-1882)
• Nature lover since he was a boy
• Abandoned medical school in The seven-year-old
Edinburgh Charles Darwin
• Sent to Cambridge University to
prepare for life as an Anglican
parson
Darwin College
University of Cambridge
voyageofthebeetle.com
Darwin came to realize that
• the Earth was very old
• present day species have arisen from ancestral species by natural processes
Darwin in 1840 HMS Beagle in port
Great
Britain Asia
Europe
North
America
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Africa
PACIFIC
Equator OCEAN
PACIFIC Galápagos
OCEAN Pinta Islands South
America
Marchena
Genovesa
Andes
Santiago Equator Australia
In 1859, Darwin published On the
Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection
What is natural selection?
Darwin recognized the connection
between
– natural selection and
– the capacity of organisms to over
reproduce
An essay written in 1798 by the
economist Thomas Malthus argued that
human suffering was the consequence of
human populations increasing faster than
essential resources
barnesandnoble.com
What is natural selection?
Organisms
– vary in many traits
– produce more offspring than the environment can support
– organisms with traits that increase their chance of surviving and
reproducing in their environment tend to leave more offspring
than others
– this unequal reproduction will lead to the accumulation of
favorable traits in a population over generations
Observations
Heritable variations Overproduction
in individuals of offspring
Inferences
Individuals well-suited to the environment tend to leave more offspring.
and
“Ice Man”
Insect in amber
Fossilized organic matter of a leaf
Fossils provides strong evidence for evolution
The fossil record shows that organisms have evolved in a
historical sequence
– The oldest known fossils, extending back about 3.5 billion years
ago, are prokaryotes
Pelvis and
hind limb
Dorudon (fully aquatic)
Pelvis and
hind limb
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grrlscientist/1814092845/
Evidence in comparative embryology
the comparison of early stages of development among
different organisms
reveals homologies not visible in adult organisms
Vestigial structures are remnants of features that served
important functions in an organism’s ancestors.
Pelvis and
hind limb
Many plant species have evolved by polyploidy in which cells have more
than two complete sets of chromosomes
Sympatric speciation can result from polyploidy
• within a species (by self-fertilization) or
• between two species (by hybridization)
A. Speciation by autopolyploidy in plants
Self-
Meiosis fertilization
2n = 6 4n= 12
Haploid
Species A Diploid Tetraploid
gametes
2n = 6 gametes zygote
n=3 Interspecific
Meiosis n=6 (offspring)
hybrid
2n = 6 2n = 12 2n = 12
Fertilization Meiosis
Mitosis
Self-
fertilization
Meiosis
Diploid gametes
Haploid n=6
Species B
gametes Nonhomologous A spontaneous
2n = 6
n=3 chromosomes will doubling produces
not pair properly polyploid condition
during meiosis. with homologous
chromosomes.
Plant biologists estimate that 80% of all living plant species are
descendants of ancestors that formed by polyploid speciation
Hybridization between two species accounts for most of these species.
Polyploid plants
• cotton
• oats
• potatoes
• bananas
• peanuts
• barley
• plums
• apples
• sugarcane
• coffee
• bread wheat
(b) Habitat differentiation
• occurs when subpopulations become dependent on different
resources than the parent population
Apple
(introduced to N. America in
nineteenth century)
(normal)
(mutant)
(c) Sexual selection
• e.g., sympatric speciation in cichlids of Lake Victoria
• 200 species of cichlids inhabit Lake Victoria in East Africa
• Sympatric speciation occurred as a result of variations in
available resources, and selective mating based on coloration
Intra-sexual selection
Elephant Stag Beetle
Normal
lighting
monochromatic monochromatic
orange lighting P. pundamilia orange lighting
(female)
Additional readings
• Jon Turney (2008) Darwin Now. British Council.
• Ernst Mayr (2001) What Evolution Is. Basic Books.
• David Quammen (2006) The Reluctant Mr. Darwin. W. W.
Norton & Company, Inc.
• Brian & Deborah Charlesworth (2003) Evolution: A Very Short
Introduction. Oxford University Press.
• The complete work of Charles Darwin online:
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
• Richard Dawkins (2009) The Greatest Show On Earth: The
Evidence for Evolution. Free Press.
• James A. Shapiro (2012) Evolution: A View From The 21st
Century. FT Press Science.
• Jonathan Weiner (1994) The Beak Of The Finch. Vintage Books.