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Revolutionary Giants of Evolution: Darwin's Impact and Scientists' Contributions

Explore the revolutionary evolution theories of Charles Darwin and other key scientists, such as Linnaeus, Cuvier, Hutton, Lamarck, and Lyell. Learn about the history of evolutionary thought, from natural theology to Darwin's groundbreaking ideas on natural selection and descent with modification. Discover the essential role of observations and inferences in understanding species evolution over time.

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Revolutionary Giants of Evolution: Darwin's Impact and Scientists' Contributions

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  1. Descent With Modification: A Darwinian View of Life Chapter 22

  2. History of Evolution… • How was Darwin a revolutionary giant? • Prior to Darwin, biology in Europe and America was dominated by a philosophy called “Natural Theology” (You can discover the Creator’s plan by studying nature) • Common belief was that all species were created by God and that it was the obligation to classify these creatures so that we may reveal the Creator’s master plan.

  3. Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) • Claim to fame was taxonomy: Classification and naming of the diverse forms of life by their physical characteristics. • Developed the two part, binomial, system of naming according to genus and species. • Still used today.

  4. James Hutton (1726 -1797) Gradualism: the idea that profound change can take place through the cumulative effect of slow but continuous processes Science viewed species as fixed and not changing and did not understand the meaning of “deep” time.

  5. How do we understand deep time?

  6. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) • The first to hypothesize that species evolved. • Vitalism: the “Use and Disuse” theory and acquired traits. • Heritability of the acquired traits.

  7. Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) • Claim to fame: paleontology, the study of fossils found in sedimentary rock. • History of life was contained in the layers of fossils in these sediments. • Catastrophism: each strata with new fossils represents a large scale catastrophic event. • Cuvier did not view these fossils as a result of a gradual process.

  8. Charles Lyell (1797-1875) • Uniformatarianism: the assumption that the natural processes operating in the past are the same as those that can be observed operating in the present.

  9. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) • Examined and was influenced by all of the scientists just mentioned. • Sailed on the HMS Beagle in 1831, visited the Galapagos Islands, observations!!! • Wrote Origin of Species in 1859. • In the essay, evolution explains life’s unity and diversity and Natural Selection is a the mechanism of evolution

  10. Darwin’s Ideas: “Descent with modification”

  11. Putting it into perspective…

  12. Let’s play name the scientists and what was his claim to fame… Darwin Linnaeus Cuvier Hutton Lyell Lamarck

  13. England EUROPE NORTH AMERICA ATLANTIC OCEAN PACIFIC OCEAN Galápagos Islands HMS Beagle in port AFRICA SOUTH AMERICA Darwin in 1840, after his return AUSTRALIA Cape of Good Hope Andes Tasmania Cape Horn New Zealand Tierra del Fuego Darwin made 5 observations and 3 inferences…

  14. Observation #1 • Organisms have a great reproductive capacity.

  15. Observation #2 • Populations of organisms are for the most part stable and do not change much…

  16. Observation #3 • Resources are limited.

  17. Inference #1 • There are more individuals than the environment can support.

  18. Inference #2 • Once an animal or plant comes into this world, there is an instant competition. There is, in essence, a “struggle for existence.”

  19. Observation #4 • There is a great deal of individual variation in a population of a particular species.

  20. Observation #5 • These variations are heritable

  21. Inference #3 • Individuals whose inherited traits give them a high probability of surviving and reproducing are likely to leave more offspring than other individuals. The Result: • This unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to a gradual change in a population, with favorable characteristics accumulating over generations

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