darwin’s bright idea - bio resource site | stuff from … was still at the malay archipelago. on...

Darwin’s Bright Idea

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)

• Born 12 February 1809

• Named after his uncle (Charles) and his father (Robert). Referred to as “Bobby” by his family during his childhood

• Grandson of Erasmus Darwin – English physician, natural

philosopher, physiologist, inventor, and poet

Click HERE for more pictures of Darwin’s home and birthplace

Charles as a child Grandpa Erasmus

Voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836)

• 27 December 1831: joined HMS Beagle voyage as the ship’s naturalist

• 5-yr cruise around the world to chart unknown territory, especially along the S. Am. Coastline; visited the Galapagos islands

Click HERE for an interactive voyage of the Beagle

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/expeditions-collecting/beagle-voyage/


• Galapagos Islands

– Group of small islands 1,000 km west of Ecuador

– Influenced Darwin’s thinking the most

• Characteristics of organisms varied noticeably (Click below to watch videos of the Galapagos fauna)

Marine iguanas Blue-footed boobies Tortoises

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO_9zm9tsCs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf7DFQ_S4zY



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEMR-0GMD54



– Darwin’s finches • 13 specimens collected

• Brought home to England and studied by ornithologist John Gould

Are these finches

variants of the same species,

or are they different species?





Despite many superficial

resemblances, these birds are from distinct

species.

John Gould Zoological Society of London





If they are from different species, why do they have

similar appearances? Are they related to each other? Could it be that they were once part of

the same species?


• What Darwin noticed during the Beagle’s journey: – The diversity of life

– Fitness of organisms

Animals of Australian grasslands

1. Feral pig (wild boar; Sus scrofa)

2. Eastern grey kangaroo(Macropus giganteus)

3. Dingo (Canis lupus dingo)

4. European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

1 2

3 4


• What Darwin noticed:

– The diversity of life

– Fitness of organisms

Animals of Argentinian grasslands 1. Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros) 2. Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) 3. Pampas finch (Embernagra platensis) 4. Pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus)

1 2 3

4


Where did all these life forms come from?

Why did different species live in certain

places?

Did you know…?

Scientists estimate that around 3 to 20 million

species exist today, and that 99.9% of all species that ever lived are now

extinct.

Why have so many of them disappeared, and

how were they related to living species?




– Fitness of organisms • Ability of an individual

to survive and reproduce in its specific environment

Insectivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthes attenboroughii)

Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) Philippine flying lemur

(Cynocephalus volans)




– Fitness of organisms • Ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in its specific

environment

– Due to physical traits and behaviors that help it adapt to environmental conditions

How did all these organisms develop the

structures that give them their fitness?

Why are there so many different techniques for

survival?

On the Origin of Species (1859)

• 1858 June 18 Darwin received a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace, who was still at the Malay Archipelago.

On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from

the Original Type



Wallace had come up with a theory of natural selection that is very similar to my

own! :O



The struggle for existence…the

transmutation of the species…


• 1858 July 1 Charles Darwin first went public about his views on the evolution of species. The papers of Darwin and Wallace were read at a meeting of the Linnean Society in London. The reaction to this meeting was a mixture of shock, excitement, and stunned silence.

AboutDarwin.com


• Published 24 November 1859

• Two main concepts:

– Evolution • Common descent

– Natural selection


• Evolution: descent with modification

– Process of change in species through time

– Common descent

• Natural selection: mechanism for evolution

– Adaptations

– Struggle for existence


• 1860 January

The repercussions of Origin of Species were mixed. Thomas Huxley and Joseph Hooker thought very highly of it and soon became stronger allies with Darwin. Huxley soon became a ruthless defender of evolution, even going so far as to suggest that mankind was a transmuted ape! Richard Owen was outraged by the Origin. He saw the ideas expressed in the book as being dangerous to society. He also though the book left too many unanswered questions, and worst of all it leaned natural science away from its respectable position as an investigator of God’s creation. Most readers, however, simply did not understand how natural selection worked. They could not see who or what was doing the selecting. Many assumed God was the selector.

Thomas Huxley Joseph Hooker Richard Owen

AboutDarwin.com


• 1866

The phrase, “Survival of the fittest,” was coined by Herbert Spencer in his two volume book: “Principles of Biology”. It became a substitute for the phrase, “natural selection”, which led people to think selection required a selector (i.e., God).

AboutDarwin.com

Ideas That Shaped Darwin’s Theory

EVOLUTION

Economics

Plant & Animal Breeding

Geology


• ECONOMICS

Woodstock 1969

Competition for limited resources


• PLANT AND ANIMAL BREEDING

– Artificial selection

The intervention of humans ensures that

only individuals with the most desirable traits produce offspring.

Variants of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familaris)


• GEOLOGY

– The Earth is more than just a few thousand years old

Natural Selection as a Mechanism for Evolution

• Overproduction Each species produces more offspring than will survive to maturity

• Variation There is variation among offspring

• Competition Organisms compete with one another for limited resources

• Survival to reproduce Individuals that possess the most favorable combination of characteristics are the most likely to survive

Survival of the fittest

Struggle for existence

Natural Selection as a Mechanism for Evolution

• Overproduction Each species produces more offspring than will survive to maturity

• Variation There is variation among offspring

• Competition Organisms compete with one another for limited resources

• Survival to reproduce Individuals that possess the most favorable combination of characteristics are the most likely to survive

The differential success in reproduction resulting from the organisms’ interaction with their environment

Lycaon pictus Canis latrans Vulpes spp. Canis lupus Canis spp.

Natural vs. Artificial Selection

• Operates in similar manners

• Natural selection occurs over much longer periods of time, w/o any goal or purpose

Lycaon pictus Canis latrans Vulpes spp. Canis lupus Canis spp.

Variants of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familaris)

Natural Selection in Populations

• Natural selection involves interactions between individual organisms and their environment, but individuals do NOT evolve

• A population is the smallest unit that can evolve

Click the pic to view a simulation of natural selection in a population of fictitious blue organisms.

Evolution Lamarckian vs. Darwinian

Desire to change, use and disuse, inheritance of acquired traits

Overproduction, variation,

competition, survival to reproduce





• Desire to change Inborn urge to better themselves; innate tendency toward complexity and perfection

• Use and disuse Change occurred because organisms could alter their shape by using their bodies in new ways

• Inheritance of acquired traits If an animal acquired a body structure during its lifetime, it could pass that change to its offpsring

Click to learn more about

Darwin’s Bright Idea

Understanding Evolution PBS.org – Evolution

AboutDarwin.com Nature – Darwin 200 DarwinLive.com

LiveScience.com - Evolution NY Times – Evolution NY Times – Charles Darwin

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/





http://www.aboutdarwin.com/

http://www.aboutdarwin.com/

http://www.nature.com/news/specials/darwin/index.html





http://www.darwinlive.com/

http://www.darwinlive.com/

http://www.livescience.com/topic/evolution





http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/evolution/index.html





http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/charles_robert_darwin/index.html





References

• Main reference

Miller, K.R. and Levine, J. (1995). Biology. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

• Other references – Campbell, N.A. and Reece, J.B. (2004). Biology (7th ed.). Menlo

Park, California: Benjamin Cummings.

– Miller, K.R. and Levine, J. (2002). Biology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

– Solomon, E.P., Berg, L.R., Martin, D.W., and Villee, C. (1993). Biology (3rd ed.). Fort Worth: Saunders College Publishing.

Image Sources

• Slide 2 Shrewsbury: http://www.voa.gov.uk/where/images/shrewesbury.gif Charles: http://www.darwinday.org/learn/darwin.html Erasmus: http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2004/wallis/a%20fool%20you%20know.htm

• Slide 3 Interactive voyage of the Beagle: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-history/expeditions-collecting/beagle-voyage/

• Slide 4 Galapagos: http://www.galapagoskreuzfahrten.com/photo/news/200709_05.gif

• Slide 5, 6, 7 Finches: http://campus.digication.com/darwin/finches

• Slide 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 21 Darwin: http://www.arps.org/USERS/ms/KepplerC/Charles-Darwin-31.jpg

Image Sources

• Slide 6 Gould: http://www.nla.gov.au/collect/treasures/images/gouldport.jpg

• Slide 8 Feral pig: http://simplebrowser.blogspot.com/2007/10/feral-pigs-biggest-problem-in-australia.html Kangaroo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Grey_Kangaroo Dingo: http://kritterkorner.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/dingo-wild-dog-of-australia/ Rabbit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oryctolagus_cuniculus_Tasmania.jpg

• Slide 9 Pampas cat - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampas_Cat Pampas deer - http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rotqvPRmbtU/SQEarZPe2AI/AAAAAAAAH5Q/RgBebPPBLqE/DSC_5229.JPG Pampas finch - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DPCSd1DIHig/SJRQ2g2N0wI/AAAAAAAAAgY/7fz3Khq1Fks/s400/GreatPampafinch.jpg Greater Rhea - http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/451883177_c9b2ddfbb6_o.jpg

Image Sources

• Slide 11 Pitcher plant - http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/meat.eating.plant/index.html Tarsier - http://scienceguy288.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/wildlife-wednesday-tarsier/ Philippine flying lemur - http://dailymammal.blogspot.com/2008/05/philippine-flying-lemur-colugo.html

• Slide 13, 15 Wallace: http://stewartsstruggles.blogspot.com/2008/08/wallace.html

• Slide 14, 16, 19 Yahoo Emoticons: http://messenger.yahoo.com/features/emoticons/

• Slide 17 Origin: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/exhibits/darwin/originb.jpg

Image Sources

• Slide 19 Huxley: http://www2.scc-fl.edu/asalmon/chronology_complete_version.htm Hooker: http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~alroy/lefa/Hooker.html Owen: http://evolvingwithdarwin.blogspot.com/2008/07/sir-richard-owen.html

• Slide 20 Herbert Spencer: http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Biology-v-1/dp/0898757940

• Slide 21, 22 Malthus: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/edu/dees/courses/v1001/evol.html

• Slide 22 Woodstock: http://sparkncinder.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/woodstock-1969/ Crops: http://marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_marincountyfreelibrary_archive.html#108785724111160085

• Slide 21, 23, 31 Concepts and Connections by Campbell and Reece

Image Sources

• Slide 21, 24 Lyell: http://historiadaciencia.blogspot.com/2009/03/o-impacto-do-manuscrito-de-wallace-de.html

• Slide 24 Principles: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/4/image_pop/l_024_01.html

• Slides 25 to 29 Puppies nursing: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/finnegan.asp

• Slide 30, 31 Concepts and Connections by Campbell and Reece

• Slide 32 Natural Selection Simulation: http://www.biologyinmotion.com/evol/index.html

Image Sources

• Slides 33 to 36 Lamarck: http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~alroy/lefa/Lamarck.html Darwin: http://faculty.frostburg.edu/mbradley/psyography/darwin.jpg

• Slides 33 to 35 Giraffe: http://www.betterphoto.com/uploads/processed/0026/0601291522231ms-588.jpg

• Slide 36 Giraffe: http://illustrationboard.blogspot.com/2009/06/evolution-wiped-out-short-stumpy.html

Acknowledgment: Free PowerPoint Templates

http://www.indezine.com/powerpoint/templates/freetemplates.html

darwin’s bright idea - bio resource site | stuff from … was still at the malay archipelago. on...

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