Evolution, Ecology & Biodiversity. This course covers: - Population Genetics - Evolution - Diversity...
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Transcript of Evolution, Ecology & Biodiversity. This course covers: - Population Genetics - Evolution - Diversity...
This course covers:
- Population Genetics- Evolution- Diversity of life- Ecology
- major theme of the course is evolution
What do you think is the best definition of evolution (for a biologist)?:
a) Origination of species by developmentfrom earlier forms
b) Change in allele frequencies in a populationover generations
c) Descent with modificationd) The survival of the fitteste) Gradual process in which something changes
into a more complex or better form
Why are there millions of species on this planet? What are they?What can we learn from this diversity?
Evolutionary thinking
Evolutionary biology credited to Darwin (1859)- not first to think of evolution…
Georges-Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon) - 1707-1788- believed in long history of earth, change in organisms, noted vestigial organs
Erasmus Darwin - 1731-1802
- believed that life had evolved from simple origins- wrote poetry…
Organic life beneath the shoreless wavesWas born and nurs'd in ocean's pearly caves;First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass,Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;These, as successive generations bloom,New powers acquire and larger limbs assume;Whence countless groups of vegetation spring,And breathing realms of fin and feet and wing.
The best known ‘pre-Darwinian’ evolutionistwas….?
His theory made what well-known argument?:a) the environment directly modifies organismsb) individuals with greater fitness would pass
on their traitsc) changes in a trait arise by chanced) traits improved by frequent use would be
passed on to offspringe) many past species went extinct
Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)
- best known evolutionist pre-Darwin- believed species change AND suggested mechanisms
by which it might happen
- tendency to increase in size- perception of needs- use and disuse, inheritance of
acquired characters
Charles Darwin - the man…
- first to accumulate sufficient evidence to convince people that evolution had occurred
- first to develop a logical, coherent mechanism to explain how & why evolution happens
Where in the world are armadillos found?
a) Americas onlyb) Americas and Africac) Americas and Asiad) Americas & Australiae) World-wide
- fossils in South America, birds in Galapagos islands, etc. led him to question species fixity
Glyptodon Large Hairy Armadillo