Common misconceptions of evolution

1. Common misconceptions of evolution Indiana University East- Anthony Breitenbach

2. Robert L. Trivers • MET~ often denied

3. Robert L. Trivers • “Although Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection is central to the study of social behavior (especially when wedded to Mendel’s genetics) , it has been widely neglected.”

4. Central To Life Science

5. Why is MET so widely neglected? • Misconceptions • The History-Deniers

6. The Common Misconceptions • 1) MET as a belief system • 2) MET as teleological • 3) “Survival of the fittest” • 4) Natural Selection • 5) Humans came from monkeys • 6) MET as “only a theory”

7. MET as a Belief System What do you think of Evolution? I do not believe in Evolution…

8. The Difference: Science & Religion Science Religion • Natural world • Explanatory tool • Test hypotheses • Supernatural world • Belief system • Contain no testable hypotheses

9. Natural World • WWII • Observable

10. Supernatural World • Religion: belief system

11. 1) MET as a Belief System: Conc. • Accept or deny the fact (not believe)

12.  MET as Teleological Teleological: perfection point to strive for 

13. Natural Selection • Misunderstanding of Natural Selection • “I have called this principle, by with each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.” –Charles Darwin

14. Natural Selection: Not a Force • Genetic Variation

15. No Teleological Goal Slug Human • Genes advantageous to slugs • Genes advantageous to humans

16. What Does Successful Mean? Survival of the Fittest

17. “Fittest” • Little to do with physical • Reproductive

18. The Meaning of Life

19. The Beginning of Life • Replication- primordial ooze • Mutation- genetic variation • The birth of natural selection

20. The Immortal Coils 1) Longevity 2) Replication frequency 3) Mutation frequency

21. Survival Machines • Chemical Warfare • Chemical Shields

22. Survival Machines • “Survival machines began as passive receptacles for the genes, providing little more than walls to protect them from chemical warfare of their rivals…” Richard Dawkins 2006

23. Survival Machines • Survival Machines: Us • Slow Process

24. Survival Machines • “A hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg.” (Gene selectionism)

25. Natural selection:what does it operate on? Natural Selection Operation

26. Gene Selectionism • For the good of the gene • Genetic democracy

27. Group Selectionism • Species, family

28. V. C. Wynne-Edwards • “Group selection was the fashion that natural selection operated in order to produce adaptations” (Family) Daly and Wilson 1983

29. When an egg was removed from the Flicker’s nest, the Flicker would lay any number of eggs to replace the ones that had went missing. W. C. Wynne-Edwards claimed that that was due to natural selection operating on the group, or in this case family.

30. W. D. Hamilton “[if] what’s being selected is the gene’s contribution to it’s numerical increase, assistance to its collateral kin as well as to offspring can be of selective advantage Daly and Wilson 1983

31. Inclusive Fitness • Altruistic towards family • Optimum clutch size

32. Monkeys and Humans The Lineage of The Apes

33. Hominid Evolution • “No modern is descended from any other modern species.” Richard Dawkins 2010

34. Apes Humans Monkeys

35. The common ancestor between humans and monkeys lived around 25 million years ago and probably looked a lot more like a monkey than a human. Speciation, the process in which a species splits to form two other species can be a very slow process. The two species that split from the common ancestor of humans and monkeys probably looked very biologically similar. Evolution is a slow process and now, 25 million years later, evolution has had time to produce two species that look biologically different despite sharing 93% of their DNA.

36. Lucy • Australopithecus africanus • “Missing link” • 1970s • Missing links filling

37. Is evolution “Only a theory?” Evolution: Only a Theory?

38. The Oxford English Dictionary • Theory: 1) a scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed

39. The Oxford English Dictionary • Theory: 2) a hypothesis proposed as an explanation; hence, a mere hypothesis, speculation, conjecture, an idea or set of ideas about something; an individual view or notion

40. “Only a Theory” • Theory~ strongest paradigm

41. We Have the Evidence! • Vast array of empirical support • Withstood the test of time • Genetics • Anthropology • Paleontology • Biochemistry • Comparative Anatomy

42. Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (Null Model) • 1) No mutations • 2) No natural selection • 3) Infinitely large population • 4) All members breed • 5) No non-random mating • 6) Same number of offspring • 7) No migration in or out

43. p = the allelic frequency of the dominant allele in the population q = the allelic frequency of the recessive allele in the population Probability of two p alleles coming together is p (in eggs) multiplied by p (in sperm) which yields p². The same goes for q yielding q². During reproduction the is a frequency of p + q eggs and p + q sperm in the population. Therefore the genotype frequency becomes p² + 2pq + q². The next and every round of mating after that will still result in p² + 2pq + q² unless an assumption is violated (i.e. natural selection, migration, etc.).

44. Evolution: A Theory indeed Withstanding the Test of Time

45. Evolution: A Theory Indeed • 150 years of strengthening

46. The Meaning of Life • Genes  the next generation

47. The Survival Machines  Us 

48. Richard Dawkins • “Replicators are no longer peppered freely through the sea; they are packaged in huge colonies– individual bodies. And phenotypic consequences, instead of being evenly distributed throughout the world, have in many cases congealed into those same bodies. But in the individual body, so familiar to us on our planet, did not have to exist. The only kind of entity that has to exist in order for life to arise, anywhere in the universe, is the immortal replicator.”

49. The Greatest Show on Earth

50. Literature Cited • Allen, R. E., Fowler, H. W., & Fowler, F. G. 1990. The Concise Oxford dictionary of current English. Oxford, Clarendon Press. • C, Choi. 2007. Monkey DNA Points to Common Human Ancestor. Available: http://www.livescience.com/1411-monkey-dna-points-common-human-ancestor.html. • Last accessed 10 Mar 2013. • Daly, M. and Wilson, M. 1983. Sex, Evolution, and Behavior. 2nd ed. Boston: Willard Grant. • Darwin, C. 1859. On the Origin of Species. London: Muray. • Dawkins, R. 2010. The Greatest Show on Earth. New York: Free. • Dawkins, R. 2006. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford UP. • Hamilton, W.D. 1964. The Genetic Theory of Social Behavior, J. Theoretical Biology. 7: 1-52. • Lack, D. 1966. Population Studies of Birds. Oxford: Clarendon Press. • O'Neil, Dennis. 2012. Hardy-Weinberg Equilibriam Model. Available: http://anthro.palomar.edu/synthetic/synth_2.htm. Last Accessed 2 Mar 2013. • Trivers, R. 1985. Social Evolution. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc. Menlow Park, CA. • Wynne-Edwards, V.C. 1962. Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.