Darwin’s Evolution

Evolution is descent with modification

 A process that cause changes in heritable traits of living organisms over series of generations
 give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms,
and molecules.
Species
 a group of animals or plants that are very similar.
 Each member of a species share the same characteristics
 example the species pet cats belong to all have sharp teeth, retractable claws, fur, a tail and the same number of
toes and nipples.
 Homo sapiens, all walk upright, have some sharp teeth and some flat ones, our eyes point forwards, have some
hair, pretty big brains! (:
 All species are related to each other ( family tree).

Who was Charles Darwin?

 from Shrewsbury, England, born on Feb. 12, 1809, fifth child of a doctor,
 became orphan (mother) at young age and taken care by older sisters and his big brother Charles his best friend
 love to walk and explore his surroundings than going to school
 had a lab in his garden and collected creepy crawlies, stones, plants
 learning Latin and Greek was boring and ridiculous for him and claimed he learned nothing from school- father
thought he was lazy!
 sent to Edinburgh in Scotland to study medicine and became a doctor and hated it because of blood around and
patients screams from surgery with no painkillers- they were so noisy
 quit medicine and spent time looking at sponges on the beach
 sent to Christ’s College to become a priest, but didn’t like and spent his time collecting thousands of beetles and set
up a dinner club which ate exotic meats!
 met Professor Henslow at Cambridge who studies plant s and Professor Sedgwick who was big into rocks.
 Both taught him how to study nature in a scientific way. Finally Charles love this!
 At 22 joined a voyage round the world in H.M.S. Beagle travelling the globe, making maps of coastlines returned
home via the Galapagos, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa after five years!
 at home he started thinking about how animals and plants change through time. He thought that maybe, different
types of animals and plants could change…they could evolve! And he thought he knew why
Reasons: individual animals and plants compete for food, water and space: fighting for their lives!
that individuals are different from each other and that parents and offspring are more similar to each other than they are to
others: different individuals might survive better than others because they are a little bit bigger or better at something, and
that if they do survive more often they will have more kids. So over time all the little differences would add up until you see a
big difference. Evidences were needed!
 1859 wrote Origin of Species contained all what he found out. Some people were very angry because they believed
that a God had created all animals and plants and that they stayed the same.
 that humans weren’t special; they had evolved too just like any other animal, that humans evolved from apes and
upset some people who liked to think humans were completely different from animals.
 Charles became very famous and got lots of awards and prizes!
 Died at 72 as very sick person

Charles Darwin and Evolution

 Proposed a way how evolution works
How did creatures change over time? by natural selection
 Collected a lot of evidence to support his ideas
 Darwin found…many unique species: Many of Darwin’s observations made him wonder… Why were these
creatures found only on the Galapagos Islands?

 Ancient armadillo
 …clues in the fossils: Evidence that creatures have changed over time
Why should extinct armadillos & modern armadillos be found on same continent?
 …. Different shells on tortoises on different islands
 Darwin asked: Is there a
relationship between the
environment & what an animal
looks like?
 … Many different birds on the
Galapagos Islands. He thought he
found very different kinds… Armadillo of today
Finch? Sparrow? Woodpecker? Warbler?
But Darwin found… a lot of finches. All 14 species of birds were finches… But there is only one species of finch on the
mainland! If the Galapagos finches came from the mainland, why are they so different now? A flock of South American
finches were stranded on the Galapagos…The finches assured it! The differences between species of finches were
associated with the different food they ate.
 different beaks are inherited variations
 serve as adaptations
that help birds compete for food
 these birds survive & reproduce
 pass on the genes for those more fit beaks
 over time nature selected for different species with different beaks
Relationship between species (beaks) & food

Darwin’s finches
Darwin’s conclusions
 variations in beaks
differences in beaks in the original flock
adaptations to foods available on islands
 natural selection for most fit
over many generations, the finches were selected for specific beaks & behaviors
 offspring inherit successful traits
accumulation of winning traits: both beaks & behaviors
 separate into different species
variation natural selection for best survival & reproduction

From 1 species to 14 species

 …

Warbler finch Cactus finch

Woodpecker finch Sharp-beaked

finch

Small Small
insectivorous ground
tree finch finch

Large
Cactus
insectivorous Medium
eater
tree finch ground
finch

Insect
eaters
Seed eaters
Large
Vegetarian ground
tree finch finch
Bud eater

… more fossils: Evidence that creatures have changed over time

Why should extinct sloths & modern sloths be found on the same continent?

Present day slot ancient slot

Earlier ideas on Evolution

LaMarck
 evolution by acquired traits
creatures developed traits during their lifetime give those traits to their offspring
 example: in reaching higher leaves giraffes stretch their necks & give the acquired longer
neck to offspring
 not accepted as valid
Darwin’s view of Evolution
 giraffes that already have long necks survive better leave more offspring who inherit their
long necks
 variation
 selection & survival
 reproduction & inheritance of more fit traits
Darwin’s Observation:
The diversity of living species was far greater than anyone had previously known!! - led him to develop the theory of
evolution!!
Evolution: is a Theory, is a well supported explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world, in science is
a well tested hypothesis, not just a guess
Geologists: Hutton and Lyell
 Fundamentalists said that the earth was around 6000 years old
 Hutton and Lyell argued that the earth is many millions of years old b/c
 layers of rock take time to form
 processes such as volcanoes and earthquakes shaped the earth and still occur today
Malthus
Reasoned that if the human population continued to grow unchecked, sooner or later there would
be insufficient living space and food for everyone

Artificial Selection
 nature provides variation, humans select variations that are useful.
 Example - a farmer breeds only his best livestock
Natural Selection
The traits that help an organism survive in a particular environment are “selected” in natural
selection

Natural Selection and Species Fitness

 Overtime, natural selection results in changes in the inherited
characteristics of a population. These changes increase a species
fitness (survival rate)
Descent with Modification
 Each living species has descended with changes from other
species over time

Summary of Darwin’s Theory

1. Organisms differ; variation is inherited
2. Organisms produce more offspring than survive
3. Organisms compete for resources
4. Organisms with advantages survive to pass those advantages to their children
5. Species alive today are descended with modifications from common ancestors

Evidence of Evolution
 Fossil Record
- provides evidence that living things have evolved
- show the history of life on earth and how different groups of organisms have changed over time
Fossil Formation SG Primate Fossils
Australopithecus Homo erectus Homo sapien
 Mold fossils are imprints, like footprints, and impressions of skin, feathers or bark
Cast fossils are made when the remains of ancient things are filled with minerals, like fossilized bones or petrified wood.
Fossils can also be preserved in amber (fossilized plant resin) or tar (a thick form of crude oil)

 Geographic Distribution of Living Species

 Homologous Body structures
 Similarities in Embryology

Relative vs. Absolute Dating

Relative Dating Absolute dating Relative vs. Absolute Dating

Relative Dating
Can determine a fossil’s relative age
Performed by estimating fossil age compared with that of other fossils
Drawbacks – provides no info about age in years
Absolute dating
 Can determine the absolute age in numbers
 Is performed by radioactive dating – based on the amount of remaining radioactive isotopes remain
 Drawbacks - part of the fossil is destroyed during the test
Carbon -14 Dating Primate Brain Capacity

Primate Bone structure

Human Relatives
Australopithecus afarensis Homo habilis = handy human Homo erectus
1.5 to 2 mya 1.6 mya

Neanderthals Cro-Magnon Modern Homo sapien

35,000 to 100,000 ya 35,000 to 40,000 ya (fully modern fossils 100,000 ya)

Evidence of Evolution
 Geographic Distribution of Living Species
Similar animals in different locations were the product of different lines of descent
 Homologous Body Structures
Structures that have different mature forms but
develop from the same embryonic tissues
e.g. Wing of bat, human arm, leg of turtle
 Vestigial Organs
traces of homologous organs in other species
Organ that serves no useful function e.g. Appendix
 Similarities in Embryology
In their early stages of development, chickens, turtles and
rats look similar, providing evidence that they shared a common ancestry.

 Embryological development
Examples of the clinical significance of evolutionary biology to medicine
 HIV. HIV is a retrovirus of enormous medical concern. Because of evolutionary studies, we know that two separate
lineages of this retrovirus passed into the human population from African Apes in the mid 20th century.
 This knowledge has alerted us to the danger of emergent diseases from other animal hosts, a reason for our
concern about SARS and bird flu.
 In addition, it is an understanding of evolutionary biology that has enabled us to develop a therapy for HIV.
 The so-called “triple therapy” HIV treatment is an example of evolutionary medicine.
A single drug will not work against the disease because the virus evolves so quickly, it attains resistance to every drug we
have within a few months.
By using three drugs simultaneously, we subvert the evolution of the virus…evolving resistance to one drug means loosing
resistance to another.
 Antibiotic resistance is an evolutionary phenomenon of tremendous clinical significance.
 Early in the 20th century, a variety of antibiotics, used to treat bacterial diseases, were developed.
An understanding of evolution is helpful to understand where these antibiotics come from to begin with…many, such as
penicillin, were evolved by fungi, over millions of years, to kill off their bacterial competitors.
Humans have co-opted them for our own purposes.
 Since the 20th century, the bacterial pathogens have evolved resistance to our antibiotics, because extensive use
of these drugs has caused very strong natural selection in favor of mutations which favor antibiotic resistance.
For instance, various strains of Neisseria gonorrheae have evolved resistance to penicillins, tetracyclines, spectinomycin
and floroquinolones.

Mechanism of Evolution: genetic drift and mutation and natural selection- is the only mechanism capable of producing
adaptation.

Modern Evidence
DDT resistance in mosquitoes
The misuse of DDT, and the re-emergence of malaria as an important human pathogen, is perhaps one of the
greatest public health failures of the century
Adaptation: peppermoth
The Eons of Time

Geological Calendar of the Phanerozoic Eon