Evidence of Evolution

Chapter 11

11.1 Impacts/Issues Reflections of a Distant Past

Events of the ancient past can be explained by the same physical, chemical, and biological processes that operate in todays world

From Evidence to Inference

Scientists infer from evidence that an asteroid impact near the Yucatn 65 million years ago caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs Mass extinction
Simultaneous loss of many lineages from Earth

From Evidence to Inference

Barringer crater, Arizona

Pioneers of Biogeography

Late 1800s: Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace and other naturalists observed patterns in where species live, how they might be related, and how natural forces might shape life Biogeography
Study of patterns in the geographic distribution of species and communities

Biogeography
Wallace and Darwin thought similarities in birds on different continents might indicate a common ancestor

Biogeography
Some plants that lived in similar climates on different continents had similar features, but were not closely related

Comparative Morphology

Naturalists studying body plans were confused by vestigial body parts with no apparent function Comparative morphology
Scientific study of body plans and structures among groups of organisms

Vestigial Body Parts

Geology
Identical rock layers in different parts of the world, sequences of similar fossils, and fossils of giant animals with no living representatives also puzzled early naturalists

Confusing Discoveries

Taken as a whole, findings from biogeography, comparative morphology, and geology did not fit with prevailing beliefs of the 19th century Increasingly extensive observations of nature led to new ways of thinking about the natural world

Comparative pelvic anatomy

11.3 A Flurry of New Theories

Nineteenth-century naturalists tried to explain the accumulating evidence of evolution Georges Cuvier proposed that catastrophic geologic forces unlike those of the present day shaped Earths surface (catastrophism) Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that changes in an animal over its lifetime were inherited

Evolution

Naturalists suspected that environmental factors affected affect a species traits over time, causing changes in a line of descent Evolution
Change in a line of descent (in a line from an ancestor)

Voyage of the Beagle

1831: Charles Darwin set out as a naturalist on a five-year voyage aboard the Beagle He found many unusual fossils and observed animals living in many different environments

Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle

Lyells Theory of Uniformity

Darwin was influenced by Charles Lyells Principles of Geology, which set forth the theory of uniformity in contrast to catastrophism Theory of uniformity
Idea that gradual repetitive processes occurring over long time spans shaped Earths surface

Shared Traits
Darwin collected fossils of extinct glyptodons, which shared traits with modern armadillos

Limited Resources
Thomas Malthus observed that:
A population tends to grow until it begins to exhaust environmental resourcesfood, shelter from predators, etc When resources become scarce, individuals must compete for them

Darwin applied these ideas to the species he had observed on his voyage

Fitness
Darwin realized that in any population, some individuals have traits that make them better suited to the environment than others, and therefore more likely to survive and reproduce Fitness
The degree of adaptation to an environment, as measured by an individuals relative genetic contribution to future generations

Adaptation
Adaptive traits that impart greater fitness to an individual become more common in a population over generations, compared with less competitive forms Adaptation (adaptive trait)
A heritable trait that enhances an individuals fitness

Natural Selection
Darwin concluded that the process of natural selection, through variations in fitness and adaptation, is a driving force of evolution Natural selection
Differential survival and reproduction of individuals of a population that vary in the details of shared, heritable traits

Great Minds Think Alike

Alfred Wallace, the father of biogeography, proposed the theory of natural selection in 1858, at the same time as Darwin Darwin published On the Origin of Species the following year, in which he described descent with modification, or evolution

Alfred Wallace
The codiscoverer of natural selection

Principles of Natural Selection

The Galapagos Islands

11.4 About Fossils

Fossils
Physical evidence of organisms from the past Hard fossils include mineralized bones, teeth, shells, spores and other hard body parts Trace fossils include footprints, nests, trails, feces and other evidence of activities

A A 30-million-year-old fossil of Elomeryx. This small terrestrial mammal was a member of the same artiodactyl group that gave rise to hippopotamuses, pigs, deer, sheep, cows, and whales.
Fig. 11-7a, p. 202

B Rodhocetus, an ancient whale, lived about 47 million years ago. Its distinctive ankle bones point to a close evolutionary connection to artiodactyls. Inset: compare a Rodhocetus ankle bone (left) with that of a modern artiodactyl, a pronghorn antelope (right).

Fig. 11-7b, p. 202

C Dorudonatrox, an ancient whale that lived about 37 million years ago. Its artiodactyl-like ankle bones (left) were much too small to have supported the weight of its huge body on land, so this mammal had to be fully aquatic.
Fig. 11-7c, p. 202

11.5 Putting Time Into Perspective

Transitions in the fossil record, found in characteristic layers of sedimentary rock, became boundaries for great intervals of the geologic time scale Geologic time scale
Chronology of Earth history Correlates with evolutionary events

Drifting Continents, Changing Seas

Theory of continental drift
Earths continents were once part of a single supercontinent that split up and drifted apart Explains how the same types of fossils can occur on both sides of an ocean

Pangea
Supercontinent that formed about 237 million years ago and broke up about 152 million year ago

Plate Tectonics: A Mechanism of Continental Drift

Theory of plate tectonics
Earths outer layer of rock is cracked into plates Slow movement rafts continents to new positions over geologic time Where plates spread apart, molten rock wells up from deep inside the Earth and solidifies Where plates collide, one slides under the other and is destroyed

Plate Tectonics

Gondwana
Certain fossils of ferns and reptiles that predate Pangea are found in similar rock layers in Africa, India, South America, and Australia evidence of an even earlier supercontinent Gondwana
Supercontinent that formed more than 500 million years ago

Impacts on Evolution

Evidence suggests that supercontinents have formed and broken up at least five times The resulting changes in the Earths surface, atmosphere, waters and climates have had profound impacts on evolution

11.6 Similarities in Body Form and Function

Similarities in structure of body parts are often evidence of a common ancestor Homologous structures
Similar body parts that reflect shared ancestry May be used for different purposes in different groups, but the same genes direct their development

Morphological Divergence
A body part that appears very different in appearance may be quite similar in underlying aspects of form evidence of shared ancestry Morphological divergence
Evolutionary pattern in which a body part of an ancestor changes in its descendants (homologous structures)

Morphological Divergence Among Vertebrate Forelimbs

pterosaur

chicken

penguin

stem reptile

porpoise

bat

human

elephant

Fig. 11-12, p. 208

Morphological Convergence
Some body parts look alike in different lineages, but did not evolve in a common ancestor Analogous structures
Similar structures that evolved separately in different lineages

Morphological convergence
Evolutionary pattern in which similar body parts evolve separately in different lineage

Morphological Convergence

Insects

Bats wings

Humans

Crocodiles

Birds wings

wings

limbs with 5 digits

Fig. 11-13d, p. 209

Comparative Embryology

Embryos of related species tend to develop in similar ways Similarities in patterns of embryonic development are the result of master genes (homeotic genes) that have been conserved over evolutionary time

Comparative Embryology

Fig. 11-14a, p. 210

Fig. 11-14b, p. 210

Fig. 11-14c, p. 210

Fig. 11-14d, p. 210

Fig. 11-14e, p. 210

11.7 Biochemical Similarities

Each lineage has unique characters that are a mixture of ancestral and novel traits, including biochemical features such as the nucleotide sequence of DNA We can discover and clarify evolutionary relationships through comparisons of nucleic acid and protein sequences