Biology

Sylvia S. Mader
Michael Windelspecht

Chapter 15
Darwin and
Evolution
Lecture Outline

See separate FlexArt PowerPoint slides

for all figures and tables pre-inserted into
PowerPoint without notes.

1
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 Outline
• 15.1 History of Evolutionary Thought
• 15.2 Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• 15.3 Evidence for Evolution

2
 15.1 History of Evolutionary
Thought
• Prior to Darwin
 The view of nature was determined by deep-seated
beliefs held to be intractable truths rather than
experimentation and observation
 Biologists had slowly begun to accept various ideas of
evolution (species change through time)
• Evolution is the unifying principle of biology
 Explains the unity and diversity of life
• Similarities between living things reflect recent common
ancestry
• Dissimilarities between living things reflect ancient common
ancestry
3
 History of Evolutionary
Thought
• Mid-Eighteenth Century Influences:
 Taxonomy matured during the mid-eighteenth
century
• Linnaeus believed in the fixity of species
– Each species had:
» An ideal structure and function, and
» A place in the scala naturae (a sequential ladder of
life)
– He developed the binomial system of nomenclature
» System of classification for living things
• Count Buffon:
– A French naturalist
– Wrote a 44-volume catalog of all known plants and animals
– Provided evidence of descent with modification
– Suggested mechanisms including environmental influences,
migration, geographic isolation, and the struggle for existence
4
 History of Evolutionary
Thought
• Late Eighteenth Century Influences:
 Cuvier:
• First to use comparative anatomy to develop a system of
classifying animals
• Founded the science of paleontology
• Proposed catastrophism
– Local catastrophes in the past had caused the Earth’s
strata to have a new mix of fossils
– After each catastrophe, the region was repopulated by
species from surrounding areas
– The result of the catastrophes was change appearing
over time

5
 History of Evolutionary
Thought
• Late Eighteenth Century Influences:
 Lamarck:
• First biologist to:
– Propose evolution
– Link diversity with environmental adaptation
• Concluded that more complex organisms are descended
from less complex organisms
• Proposed the inheritance of acquired characteristics –
Lamarckianism
 Charles Lyell:
• Earth is subject to slow but continuous cycles of erosion and
uplift
• Proposed uniformitarianism, which states that rates and
processes of change are constant

6
Lamarck’s Inheritance of
Acquired Characteristics
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Early giraffes probably had short necks

that they stretched to reach food.

Their offspring had longer necks

that they stretched to reach food.

Eventually, the continued stretching 7

of the neck resulted in today’s giraffe.
 15.2 Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution
• Geological observations consistent with
those of Hutton & Lyell
• Biogeography:
 The study of the geographic distribution of life
forms on earth
 Darwin saw similar species in similar habitats
 Reasoned that related species could be
modified according to the environment
 Living forms could be descended from extinct
forms known only from the fossil record

8
A Glyptodont and a Giant Sloth
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

a. Glyptodon

b. Mylodon

9
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Biogeography is the study of the range and geographic
distribution of life-forms on Earth.
• Darwin compared South American animals to those with
which he was familiar.
 Instead of rabbits, he found the Patagonian hare in the
grasslands of South America. The Patagonian hare has long
legs and ears but the face of a guinea pig.
• Did the Patagonian hare resemble a rabbit because the
two types of animals were adapted to the same type of
environment? Both animals ate grass, hid in bushes, and
moved rapidly using long hind legs. Did the Patagonian
hare have the face of a guinea pig because of common
descent with guinea pigs?

10
The European Hare and the
Patagonian Cavy
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Lepus europaeus

Dolichotis patagonum

(European hare): © WILDLIFE/Peter Arnold, Inc.; (Patagonian hare): © Juan & Carmecita
Munoz/Photo Researchers, Inc.

11
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Galapagos Islands
 Tortoises
• Darwin observed that tortoise neck length varied
from island to island
• Proposed that speciation on islands correlated with
a difference in vegetation
 Finches
• Darwin observed many different species of finches
on various islands
• Significant variety in beaks
• Speculated that they could have descended from a
type of mainland finches

12
 Galápagos Tortoises

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

a. b.

a: © Kevin Schafer/Corbis; b: © Michael Dick/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes

13
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Natural Selection and Adaptation:
 Members of a population have inheritable variations
 More individuals are produced in each generation
than environment can support
 Some individuals have adaptive characteristics
• Favorable traits that result in increased survival and
reproduction
 Natural selection can result in a population adapted to
the local environment
• An increasing proportion of succeeding generations will have
favorable characteristics

14
Variation in a Population
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

© Lisette Le Bon/SuperStock

15
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Darwin emphasized that individuals from a
population vary in their:
 Functional characteristics
 Physical characteristics
 Behavioral characteristics
• He proposed that these variations:
 Occur randomly
 Are essential to the natural selection process
 Allow adaptation to the environment over time

16
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Fitness is the relative reproductive
success of an individual
 The most-fit individuals in a population
capture a disproportionate share of goodies
 Interactions with the environment determine
which individuals reproduce the most
• Adaptation
 Change that helps a species become more
suited to its environment
 Product of natural selection

17
 Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Artificial selection
 A breeder chooses which traits to perpetuate and
selects the plants and animals that will reproduce
• All dogs are descended from the gray wolf
 Began to be domesticated about 14,000 years ago.
 The process of diversification led to extreme
phenotypic differences
• The wolves under domestication were separated from other
wolves.
• Each human tribe selected for whatever traits appealed to
them.

18
Artificial Selection of Animals
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Boston terrier
Irish
wolfhound

Wolf
Left: © Gary Milburn/Tom Stack & Assoc.; Top right: © Robert Dowling/Corbis; Bottom right:© Ralph Reinhold/Index Stock 19
Imagery/Photolibrary RF ;
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
• Artificial selection in plants:
 The following vegetables are derived from a
single species, Brassica oleracea:
• Chinese cabbage,
• Brussel sprouts, and
• Kohlrabi.
 Darwin described artificial selection as a
model by which to understand natural
selection.

20
Artificial Selection of Plants
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Chinese cabbage Brussels sprouts Kohlrabi

Wild mustard
(Cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kohlrabi): Courtesy W. Atlee Burpee Company; (Mustard): © Jack
Wilburn/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes;

21
 Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution

Darwin’s natural selection hypothesis was
based on:
 Observation of tortoises and finches on the
Galápagos Islands.

22
 Darwin’s Theory of
Evolution

Each of the 13 species of Galápagos finches has
a beak adapted to a particular way of life.
 A heavy beak is suited to a diet of large seeds
 The beak of the warbler-finch is suited to feeding on insects
 A longer, somewhat decurved beak and the split tongue of the
cactus-finch are suited to probing a cactus for seeds
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

a. Large, ground-dwelling finch b. Warbler-finch c. Cactus-finch

a: © Adrienne T. Gibson/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes; b: © Joe McDonald/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes; c:
© Leonard Lee Rue/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes;

23
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Peter and Rosemary Grant are observing natural
selection as it occurs in finches on Daphne Major
 The beak size of the medium ground finch
adapts to the weather

Other observations of natural selection
 Changes in the shells of marine snails due to hunting
by crabs
 Changes in the beak length of the scarlet
honeycreeper due to a new food source
 Industrial melanism
 Bacterial resistance to antibiotics

24
 Evolution in Action
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

wet year

dry year dry year dry year

Beak Depth

medium
ground finch

1977 1980 1982 1984

25
 15.3 Evidence for Evolution
• Fossil evidence
 Fossils are the remains and traces of past life or any
other direct evidence of past life such as trails,
footprints, or preserved droppings
 Fossils record the history of life from the past
 Document a succession of life forms from the simple
to the more complex
 Sometimes the fossil record is complete enough to
show descent from an ancestor
• Transitional fossils are a common ancestor for
two different groups of organisms
 They allow us to trace the descent of organisms

26
Transitional Fossils Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Amphibian
tetrapod
Early
amphibian
360

Expanded ribs
Millions of years ago (mya)

Neck
Flat head,
eyes on top

370

Scales
Tiktaalik
Fins
roseae

377

380
Rounded head, 27
eyes on sides Fish
 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Anatomical
Transitions
During the
Evolution
of Whales a. Ambulocetus 50 mya

b. Basilosaurus 40 mya

modern

c. Right whale 28
a: © J.G.M. Thewissen, http://darla.neoucom.edu/DEPTS/ANAT/Thewissen
 Evidence for Evolution
• Biogeographical Evidence:
 Biogeography is the study of the range and
distribution of plants and animals throughout the world
 Biogeographical distributions are consistent with the
hypothesis that related forms of life evolved in one
locale and then spread to accessible regions
 A different mix of plants and animals would be
expected whenever geography separates continents,
islands, seas, etc.

29
 Biogeography
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps,

is a tree-dweller and resembles
the placental flying squirrel.

The Australian wombat, Vombatus, Kangaroo, Macropus, is an

is nocturnal and lives in burrows. It herbivore
resembles the placental woodchuck. that inhabits plains and forests. It
resembles the placental Patagonian
30
Top left: © ANT Photo Library/Photo Researchers, cavy of South
Inc.; Bottom America.
left: © Photodisc Blue/Getty RF;
Right: © George Holton/Photo Researchers, Inc.
 Evidence for Evolution
• Anatomical Evidence:
 Vertebrate forelimbs:
• Homologous structures - All contain the same
sets of organized bones in similar ways
• Yet they are modified extensively to meet various
adaptive needs
• Darwin interpreted this as support for a hypothesis
of common descent
 Embryological development
• All vertebrate embryos have:
• A postanal tail and
• Paired pharyngeal (gill) pouches

31
 The Evidence of Evolution
• Homologous Structures:
 Anatomically similar because they are inherited from
a common ancestor
 May be functionally similar or not
• Analogous Structures:
 Serve the same function
 Are not constructed similarly
 Do not share a common ancestor
• Vestigial Structures:
 Fully-developed anatomical structures in one group of
organisms
 Reduced or obsolete function in similar groups

32
Significance of Homologous Structures
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

bird humerus
ulna
radius
metacarpals
phalanges

bat

whale cat horse human

33
Significance of Developmental
Similarities
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

fish

salamander

tortoise

chick
pharyngeal
pouches

human

postanal
tail
34
 Evidence for Evolution
• Biochemical Evidence:
 All living organisms:
• Use the same basic biochemical molecules
• Utilize same DNA triplet code
• Utilize same 20 amino acids in their proteins

 DNA base-sequence differences:

• When very similar, suggest recent common descent
• When more different, suggest more ancient common descent

35
 Significance of Biochemical
Differences
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

yeast moth fish turtle duck pig monkey human

0
Compared to Human Cytochrome c
Number of Amino Acid Differences

10

20

30

Cytochrome c is a small protein

that plays an important role
40 in the electron transport chain
within mitochondria of all cells.

50

36
 Animation

Please note that due to differing

operating systems, some animations
will not appear until the presentation is
viewed in Presentation Mode (Slide
Show view). You may see blank slides
in the “Normal” or “Slide Sorter” views.
All animations will appear after viewing
in Presentation Mode and playing each
animation. Most animations will require
the latest version of the Flash Player,
which is available at
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer.