Chapter 7

Evolution—The Theory and Its

Supporting Evidence
 Evidence for
Evolution
• Some of the evidence for
evolution
– comes from fossils
– such as this 2.3-meter-long
Ceresiosaurus
– which belonged to a groupof
Triassic marine reptiles
known as nothosaurs.
• On display at Glacier Garden,
Lucerne, Switzerland
 Darwin and the Galápagos
• During Charles Darwin’s five-year voyage
– (1831-1836) on the HMS Beagle,
– he visited the Galápagos Islands
– where he made important observations
– that changed his ideas about
– the then popular concept called the fixity of species
• an idea holding that all present-day species
• had been created in their present form
• and had changed little or not at all
• Darwin fully accepted
– the Biblical account of creation before the voyage
 Route of HMS Beagle
• Map showing the route (red line) followed
– by Charles Darwin when he was aboard
– HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836
• The Galápagos Islands
– are in the Pacific Ocean west of Ecuador
 The Galápagos Islands

• The Galápagos
Islands
– are specks of
land
– composed of
basalt
– in the eastern
Pacific
The Galápagos Islands
 Darwin Developed the Theory
• During the voyage Darwin observed
– that fossil mammals in South America
– are similar yet different from present-day
– llamas, sloths, and armadillos
– that the finches and giant tortoises living
– on the Galápagos Islands vary from island to island
– and still resemble ones from South America,
– even though they differ in subtle ways
• These observations convinced Darwin
– that organisms descended with modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past
– the central claim of the theory of evolution
 Galápagos Finches
• Darwin’s finches from the Galápagos
Islands
– arranged to show evolutionary relationships

– Notice
Berry
Insect eaters eater that beak
Seed Cactus shape
eaters eaters
– varies
depending
Insect eaters
on diet
 Why Study Evolution?
• Evolution
– involving inheritable changes in organisms through
time
• is fundamental to biology and paleontology
– Paleontology is the study of life history as revealed
by fossils
• Evolution is a unifying theory
• like plate tectonic theory
– that explains an otherwise
– encyclopedic collection of facts
• Evolution provides a framework
– for discussion of life history
 Misconceptions about Evolution
• Many people have a poor understanding
– of the theory of evolution
– and hold a number of misconceptions,
– which include:
• evolution proceeds strictly by chance
• nothing less than fully developed structures
– such as eyes are of any use
• there are no transitional fossils
– so-called missing links
– connecting ancestors and descendants
• humans evolved from monkeys
– so monkeys should no longer exist
 Evolution: Historical Background
• Evolution, the idea that today’s organisms
– have descended with modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past,
• is usually attributed solely to Charles Darwin,
– but it was seriously considered long before he was born,
– even by some ancient Greeks
– and by philosophers and theologians
• during the Middle Ages
• Nevertheless, the prevailing belief
– in the 1700s was that Genesis and the works of Aristotle
– explained the origin of life
– and contrary views were heresy
 Evolution: Historical Background
• During the 18th century,
– naturalists were discovering evidence
– that could not be reconciled
– with literal reading of the Bible
• In this changing intellectual atmosphere,
– scientists gradually accepted a number of ideas:
• the principle of uniformitarianism,
• Earth’s great age,
• that many types of plants and animals had become extinct,
• and that change from one species to another occurred
• What was lacking, though,
– was a theoretical framework to explain evolution
 Lamarck
• Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
– (1744-1829) is best remembered for his theory
– of inheritance of acquired characteristics,
– even though he greatly contributed
– to our understanding of the natural world
• According to this theory,
– new traits arise in organisms because of their needs
– and are somehow passed on to their descendants
• Lamarck’s theory seemed logical at the time
 Lamarck’s Theory

• Lamark’s theory was not totally refuted

– until decades later
– with the discovery that genes
• units of heredity
– cannot be altered by any effort by an organism
during its lifetime
 Lamarck’s Giraffes
• According to Lamarck’s theory of inheritance
of acquired characteristics – ancestral
short-necked
giraffes
– stretched their
necks
– to reach leaves
high on trees.
– Their
offspring were
born
– with longer
necks
 Darwin
• In 1859, Charles
Robert Darwin (1809-
1882)
– published On the
Origin of Species
• in which he detailed
– his ideas on evolution
– formulated 20 years
earlier
– and proposed a
mechanism for
evolution
 Natural Selection
• Plant and animal breeders
– practice artificial selection
– by selecting those traits they deem desirable
– and then breed plants and animals with those traits
– thereby bringing about a great amount of change
• Observing artificial selection
– gave Darwin the idea that
– a process of selection among variant types
– in nature could also bring about change
• Thomas Malthus’ essay on population
– suggested that competition for resources
– and high infant mortality limited population size
 Darwin and Wallace

• Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)

– read Malthus’ book
– and came to the same conclusion,
• that a natural process
– was selecting only a few individuals for survival
• Darwin’s and Wallace’s idea
– called natural selection
– was presented simultaneously in 1859
 Natural Selection—Main Points
• Organisms in all populations
– possess heritable variations such as
– size, speed, agility, visual acuity,
– digestive enzymes, color, and so forth
• Some variations are more favorable than others
– some have a competitive edge
– in acquiring resources and/or avoiding predators
• Not all young survive to reproductive maturity
– Those with favorable variations
– are more likely to survive
– and pass on their favorable variations
 Naturally Selected Giraffes
• According to the Darwin-Wallace theory
– of natural selection, giraffe’s long neck evolved

– because
ancestors
with longer
necks
– had an
advantage
– and
reproduced
more often
 “Survival of the Fittest”
• In colloquial usage,
– natural selection is sometimes expressed as
– “survival of the fittest”
• This is misleading because
– natural selection is not simply a matter of survival
– but involves differential rates
– of survival and reproduction
 Not only Biggest,
Strongest, Fastest
• One misconception about natural selection
– is that among animals
– only the biggest, strongest, and fastest
– are likely to survive
– These characteristics might provide an advantage
• but natural selection may favor
– the smallest if resources are limited
– the most easily concealed
– those that adapt most readily to a new food source
– those having the ability to detoxify some substance
– and so on...
 Limits of Natural Selection

• Natural selection works

– on existing variation in a population
• It could not account for the origin of variations
• Critics reasoned that should a variant trait arise,
– it would blend with other traits and would be lost
• The answer to these criticisms
– existed even then in the work of Gregor Mendel,
– but remained obscure until 1900
 Mendel and the Birth of Genetics
• During the 1860s, Gregor Mendel,
• an Austrian monk,
– performed a series of controlled experiments
– with true-breeding strains of garden peas
– strains that when self-fertilized
– always display the same trait, such as flower color
• Traits are controlled by a pair of factors,
– now called genes
• Genes occur in alternate forms, called alleles
– One allele may be dominant over another
– Offspring receive one allele
– of each pair from each parent
 Mendel’s Experiments
• The parental generation consisted of
– true-breeding strains, RR = red flowers, rr = white flowers
• Cross-fertilization yielded a second generation
– all with the Rr combination of alleles,
• in which the R (red) is dominant over r (white)
 Mendel’s Experiments
• The second generation, when self-fertilized
– produced a third generation
– with a ratio of three red-flowered plants
– to one white-flowered plant
 Importance of Mendel’s Work
• The factors (genes) controlling traits
– do not blend during inheritance
• Traits not expressed in each generation
– may not be lost
• Therefore, some variation in populations
– results from alternate expressions of genes (alleles)
• Variation can be maintained
 Genes and Chromosomes
• Complex, double-stranded
helical molecules
– of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
• called chromosomes
– are found in cells of organisms
• Specific segments of DNA
– are the basic units of heredity
(genes)
• The number of chromosomes
– varies from one species to another
– fruit flies 8; humans 46; horses 64
 Sexually Reproducing Organisms
• In sexually reproducing organisms,
– the production of sex cells
• pollen and ovules in plants
• sperm and eggs in animals
– results when cells undergo a type of cell division
– known as meiosis
• This process yields cells
– with only one chromosome of each pair
– so all sex cells have
– only 1/2 the chromosome number
– of the parent cell
Meiosis
• During meiosis,
– sex cells form that
contain one member
– of each chromosome
pair
• Formation of sperm
is shown here
• Eggs form the same
way,
– but only one of the
four final eggs
– is functional
 Fertilization
• The full number of chromosomes
– is restored when a sperm fertilizes an egg
– or when pollen fertilizes an
ovule
• The egg (or ovule) then
– has a full set of
chromosomes
– typical for that species
• As Mendel deduced,
– 1/2 the genetic makeup
– of fertilized egg
– comes from each parent
• The fertilized egg
– grows by mitosis
Mitosis
• Mitosis is cell division
– that results in
– the complete duplication of a
cell
• In this example,
– a cell with four
chromosomes (two pairs)
– produces two cells
– each with four chromosomes
• Mitosis takes place
– in all cells except sex cells
Mitosis

• Once an egg
– has been fertilized,
– the developing embryo
– grows by mitosis
 Modern View of Evolution
• During the 1930s and 1940s,
– paleontologists, population biologists,
– geneticists, and others developed ideas that
– merged to form a modern synthesis
– or neo-Darwinian view of evolution
• They incorporated
– chromosome theory of inheritance
– into evolutionary thinking
• They saw changes in genes (mutations)
– as one source of variation
 Modern View of Evolution
• They completely rejected Lamarck’s idea
– of inheritance of acquired characteristics
• They reaffirmed the importance of natural
selection
• But since then,
– some scientists have challenged the emphasis
– in modern synthesis
– that evolution is gradual
 What Brings about Variation?
• Evolution by natural selection
– works on variation in populations
– most of which is accounted for by the reshuffling
– of genes from generation to generation
– during sexual reproduction
• The potential for variation is enormous
– with thousands of genes
– each with several alleles,
– and with offspring receiving 1/2 of their genes
– from each parent
• New variations arise by mutations
– change in the chromosomes or genes
 Mutations
• Mutations result in a change
– in hereditary information
• Mutations that take place in sex cells
– are inheritable,
– whether they are chromosomal mutations
• affecting a large segment of a chromosome
– or point mutations
• individual changes in particular genes
• Mutations are random with respect to fitness
– they may be beneficial, neutral, or harmful
 Mutations

• If a species is well adapted to its environment,

– most mutations would not be particularly useful
– and perhaps would be harmful
• But what was a harmful mutation
– can become a useful one
– if the environment changes
 Neutral Mutations

• Information in cells is carried on chromosomes

– which direct the formation of proteins
– by selecting the appropriate amino acids
– and arranging them into a specific sequence
• Neutral mutations may occur
– if the information carried on the chromosome
– does not change the amino acid or protein
– that is produced
 What Causes Mutations?

• Some mutations are induced by mutagens

– agents that bring about higher mutations rates such
as
• some chemicals
• ultraviolet radiation
• X-rays
• extreme temperature changes
• Some mutations are spontaneous
– occurring without any known mutagen
 Species
• Species is a biological term for a population
– of similar individuals that in nature interbreed
– and produce fertile offspring
• Species are reproductively isolated
– from one another
• Goats and sheep do not interbreed in nature,
– so they are separate species
• Yet in captivity
– they can produce fertile offspring
 Speciation

• Speciation is the phenomenon of a new species

– arising from an ancestral species
• It involves change in the genetic makeup
– of a population,
– which also may bring about changes
– in form and structure
• During allopatric speciation,
– species arise when a small part of a population
– becomes isolated from its parent population
 Allopatric Speciation
• A few individuals of a species on the mainland
– reach isolated island 1
– Speciation follows genetic divergence in a new
habitat.
 Allopatric Speciation
• Later in time, a few individuals of the new
species colonize island 2
– In this new habitat, speciation follows genetic
divergence.
 Allopatric Speciation
• Speciation may also follow colonization of
islands 3 and 4
• Invasion of island 1 by genetically different
descendants of the ancestral species!
 Honeycreeper Speciation
• More than 20 species of Hawaiian
honeycreepers have evolved
– from a common ancestor as they adapted to
diverse food sources on the islands
 Rate of Speciation
• Although widespread agreement exists
– on allopatric speciation
– scientists disagree on how rapidly
– a new species might evolve
– Phyletic gradualism
• the gradual
accumulation of minor
changes
• eventually brings about
the origin of new
species
• This view was held by
Darwin and reaffirmed
by modern synthesis
 Rate of Speciation
• Punctuated equilibrium
– holds that little or
no change
– takes place in a
species
– during most of its
existence
– then evolution
occurs rapidly
– giving rise to a new
species
– in perhaps as little as
a few thousand years
 Styles of Evolution
• Divergent evolution occurs
– when an ancestral species
– gives rise to diverse descendants
– adapted to various aspects of the environment
• Divergent evolution leads to descendants
– that differ markedly from their ancestors
• Convergent evolution involves the development
– of similar characteristics
– in distantly related organisms
• Parallel evolution involves the development
– of similar characteristics
– in closely related organisms
 Styles of Evolution

• In both convergent and parallel evolution,

– similar characteristics developed independently
– in comparable environments
 Divergent Evolution

• Divergent evolution of a variety

– of placental mammals from a common ancestor
• Divergence accounts for descendants
– that differ from their ancestors and from one another
 Convergent Evolution
• Convergent evolution takes place
– when distantly related organisms give rise to
species
– that resemble
one another
– because they
adapt
– in comparable
ways
 Parallel Evolution

• Parallel evolution
– involves the independent
origin
– of similar features in related
organisms
 Microevolution and Macroevolution
• Microevolution is any change in the
– the genetic make-up of a species, and
– involves changes within a species
• Macroevolution involves changes
– such as the origin of a new species
– or changes at even higher levels
– For example, the origin of birds from reptiles
• The cumulative effects of microevolution
– are responsible for macroevolution
 Cladistics and Cladograms
• Traditionally, scientists have
– depicted evolutionary relationships
– with phylogenetic trees
• in which the horizontal axis represents
• anatomical differences
• and the vertical axis denotes time
• In contrast, a cladogram shows
– the relationships among members of a clade
• a group of organisms
• including its most recent common ancestor
• Cladistics focus on derived characteristics
• sometimes called evolutionary novelties
– as opposed to primitive characteristics
 Phylogenetic Tree

• A phylogenetic tree
– showing the
relationships
– among various
vertebrate animals
 Cladogram
• A cladogram showing inferred relationships
• Some of the characteristics used
– to construct this cladogram are indicated
 Evolutionary Novelties
• All land-dwelling vertebrate animals
– possess bone and paired limbs
– so these characteristics are primitive
– and of little use in establishing relationships
– among land vertebrates
• However, hair and three middle ear bones
– are derived characteristics
– because only one subclade, the mammals, has them
 Evolutionary Novelties

• If considering only mammals,

– hair and middle ear bones
– are primitive characteristics,
– but live birth is a derived characteristic
– that serves to distinguish most mammals
– from the egg-laying mammals
 Cladograms
• Three different
interpretations
– of the relationships among
– bats, dogs and birds
 Cladograms
• Bats and birds fly,
– which might suggest
– a closer relationship
– than to dogs
• Dogs and birds
– do not appear closely related
• Hair and giving birth to live
young
– indicate that bats and dogs
– are more closely related
 Cladistics for Fossils
• Cladistics and cladograms work
– well for living organisms,
– but are trickier for fossils
• Care must be taken in determining
– what are primitive verses derived characteristics,
– especially in groups with poor fossil records
• Paleontologists must be especially careful
– of characteristics resulting
– from convergent evolution
 Cladistics for Fossils

• Nevertheless, cladistics is a powerful tool

– that has more clearly elucidated
– the relationships among many fossil lineages,
– and is now used extensively by paleontologists
 Evolutionary Trends
• During evolution, all aspects of an organism
– do not change simultaneously
• A key feature we associate
– with a descendant group might appear
– before other features typical of that group
• For example, the oldest known bird
– had feathers and the typical fused clavicles of birds,
– but it also retained many reptile characteristics
• Mosaic evolution is the concept that
– organisms possess recently evolved characteristics
– as well as some features of their ancestral group
 Phylogeny

• Phylogeny is the evolutionary history

– of a group of organisms
• If sufficient fossil material is available,
– paleontologists determine the phylogeny
– and evolutionary trends for groups of organisms
• For example, one trend in ammonoids
• extinct relatives of squid and octopus
– was the evolution
– of an increasingly complex shell
 Evolutionary Trends
• Abundant fossils show the evolutionary trends of
– the Eocene mammals, Titanotheres
• These extinct relative of
horses and rhinoceroses
– evolved from small ancestors
– to giants standing 2.4 m at
the shoulder
– developed large horns
– and the shape of their skull
changed
– Only 4 of the 16 known
genera are show
 Evolutionary Trends
• Size increase is
– one of the most common evolutionary trends
• However, trends are complex
– they might reverse
– more than one can take place
– at the same time at different rates
• Trends in horses included
– generally larger size
• but size decreased in some now-extinct horses
– changes in teeth and skull
– lengthening legs
– reduction in number of toes
• These trends occurred at different rates
 Adaptations
• Evolutionary trends are a series of
adaptations
– to changing environment
– or in response to exploitation of new
habitats
• Some organisms
– show little evolutionary change
– for long periods
• Lingula is a brachiopod
– with a shell, at least,
– that has not changed
– significantly since the Ordovician
 “Living Fossils”
• Several organisms have shown
– little or no change for long periods
• If these still exist as living organisms today
– they are sometimes called living fossils
• For example:
– horseshoe crabs
– Latrimaria (fish)
– Gingko trees
• Some of these are generalized and can live
under a wide variety of enviroinments
 A Living Fossil
• Latimeria
– belongs to a group of fish
– once thought to have gone extinct
– at the end of the Mesozoic Era
A specimen was caught
off the coast of East Africa in 1938
 A Second Living Fossil
• Ginkgos
– have changed very
little
– for millions of
years
 Randomness in Natural Selection?

• But isn’t evolution by natural selection

– a random process?
• If so, how is it possible
– for a trend to continue long enough
– to account just by chance
– for such complex structures as
– eyes, wings, and hands?
 Two Steps in Natural Selection
• Evolution by natural selection
– is a 2 step process
– Only the first step involves chance
• Variation must be present
– or arise in a population
• Whether a mutation is favorable
– is a matter of chance
• The natural selection of favorable variations
– is not by chance
 Extinctions
• Perhaps as many as 99% of all species
– that ever existed are now extinct
• Organisms do not always evolve
– toward some kind of higher order of perfection
– or greater complexity
• Vertebrates are more complex
– but not necessarily superior
– In some survival sense, bacteria
– have persisted for at least 3.5 billion years!
• Natural selection yields organisms adapted
– to a specific set of circumstances
– at a particular time
 Background and Mass Extinction
• The continual extinction of species
– is referred to as background extinction
• It is clearly different from mass extinction
– during which accelerated extinction rates
– sharply reduce Earth’s biotic diversity
• Extinction is a continual occurrence
– but so is the evolution of new species
– that usually quickly exploit the opportunities
– another species’ extinction creates
• Mammals began a remarkable diversification
– when they began occupying niches
– the extinction of dinosaurs and their relatives left
vacant
 Mass Extinction

• The mass extinction of dinosaurs

– and other animals at the end of Mesozoic Era
– is well known,
• but the greatest mass extinction
– occurred at the end of the Paleozoic Era
– when more than 90% of all species died out
 Evidence in Support of Evolution
• Darwin cited supporting evidence
– for evolutionary theory such as
• classification
• embryology
• comparative anatomy
• geographic distribution
• fossil record, to a limited extent
• He had little knowledge
– of the mechanism of inheritance,
– and biochemistry and molecular biology
– were unknown at his time
 Evidence in Support of Evolution
• Since Darwin’s time, studies from additional
fields
– in biochemistry
– molecular biology
– more complete and better understood fossil record
• have convinced scientists that the theory
– is as well supported by evidence
– as any other major theory
• Scientists still disagree on many details,
– but the central claim of the theory
– is well established and widely accepted
 Is the Theory of Evolution
Scientific?
• An idea can only be a truly scientific theory
– if testable predictive statements
– can be made from it
• No theory in science is ever proven
• in the final sense,
– although substantial evidence may support it
• All theories are always open
– to question, revision and occasionally
– to replacement by a more comprehensive theory
 Theories Must Be Predictive
• By predictive, we do not mean that
– it can predict the future
• No one knows which existing species
– will become extinct, or what descendants
– of any particular organism, if any,
– will look like in millions of years from now
• Nevertheless, we can make a number of
predictions
– about the present-day natural world
– and about the fossil record
– that should be consistent with evolutionary theory
– if it is correct
 Some Predictions from Evolution

• If evolution has taken place,

– closely related species such as wolves and coyotes
– should be similar in anatomy and biochemistry,
– genetics, and embryonic development
• The oldest fossil-bearing rocks should have
– very different fossils than organisms of today
 Testable
• Suppose that contrary to evolutionary prediction
– wolves and coyotes were not similar
– in terms of their biochemistry, genetics
– and embryonic development, then
– our prediction would fail
– and we would at least have to modify the theory
• If other predictions also failed,
– for example, if mammals appeared in the fossil record before
fishes
– then we would have to abandon the theory
– and find a better explanation for our observations
• Since the theory of evolution can “be falsified,”
– it is truly scientific
 Classification

• Classification uses a nested pattern of

similarities
• Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778) proposed
– a classification scheme
– in which organisms receive a two-part name
– consisting of genus and species
– for example, the coyote is Canis latrans
• Linnaeus’s classification is an ordered list
– of categories that becomes more inclusive
– as one proceeds up the hierarchy
 Linnaean Classification
Most inclusive • the coyote, Canis latrans
• Kingdom • Animalia
– Phylum – Chordata
• Subphylum • Vertebrata
– Class – Mammalia
» Order » Carnivora
• Family • Canidae
– Genus – Canis
• Species • latrans

Least inclusive
Classification —shared Characteristics
• Subphylum
vertebrata
– including
fishes,
amphibians,
reptiles, birds
and mammals,
– have a
segmented
vertebral
column
• Only warm-
blooded
animals with
hair/fur and
mammary
glands are
mammals
Coyote, Canis latrans
• 18 orders of
mammals exist
including order
Carnivora
• The Family
Canidae are
doglike
carnivores
• and the genus
Canis includes
only closely
related species
• Coyote, Canis
latrans, stands
alone as a
species
 Coyote and Wolf
• Coyote (Canis latrans) and wolf (Canis lupus)
– share numerous characteristics
– as members of the same genus
• They share some but fewer characteristics
– with the red fox (Volpes fulva)
– in the family Canidae
• All canids share some characteristics with cats,
– Bears, and weasels in the order Carnivora
– which is one of 18 living orders
– of the class Mammalia
• Shared characteristics
– are evidence for evolutionary relationships
 Biological Evidence
Supporting Evolution
• If all existing organisms descended with
modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past,
• all life forms should have fundamental
similarities:
– all living things consist mainly of carbon, nitrogen
hydrogen and oxygen
– their chromosomes consist of DNA
– all cells synthesize proteins
• in essentially the same way
 Evolutionary Relationships
• Biochemistry provides evidence
– for evolutionary relationships
• Blood proteins are similar among all mammals
– Humans’ blood chemistry is related
• most closely to the great apes
• then to Old World monkeys
• then New World monkeys
• then lower primates such as lemurs
• Biochemical test support the idea
– that birds descended from reptiles
• a conclusion supported by evidence in the fossil record
 Structures with Similarities
• Homologous structures
– are basically similar structures
– that have been modified for different functions
– They indicate derivation from a common ancestor.
• Analogous structures are structures
– with similarities unrelated
– to evolutionary relationships
– that serve the same function
– but are quite dissimilar
– in both structure and development
 Homologous Structures
• Forelimbs of humans, whales, dogs, and birds
– are superficially dissimilar,
– yet all are made up of the same bones,
– have similar
arrangement
– of muscles,
nerves and
blood
vessels,
– are similarly
arranged with respect to other structures,
– have similar pattern of embryonic development
 Analogous Structures

• Wings of insects, birds and bats

– serve the same function but differ considerably
– in structure and embryological development
• Are any of these wings • Yes, bird and
– both analogous and homologous? bat wings
 Vestigial Structures
• Vestigial structures are nonfunctional remnants
– of structures in organisms that were functional
– in their ancestors
• Why do dogs have tiny,
– functionless toes on their
feet (dewclaws)?
• Ancestral dogs had five
toes
– on each foot,
– all of which contacted the
ground
• As they evolved
– they became toe-walkers with only four toes on the ground
– and the big toes and thumbs were lost or reduced
– to their present state
 Remnants of Rear Limbs in Whales
• The Eocene-aged whale,
Basilosaurus,
– had tiny vestigial back
limbs
– but it did not use limbs to
support its body weight.
 Evolution in Living Organisms
• Small-scale evolution can be observed today.
• For example
– adaptations of some plants to contaminated soils
– insects and rodents developing resistance to new
insecticides and pesticides
– development of antibiotic-resistant strains of
bacteria
• Variations in these populations
– allowed some variant types
– to live and reproduce,
– bringing about a genetic change
 What do We Learn from Fossils?
• The fossil record consists
– of first appearances of various organisms
– through time
• One-celled organisms appeared
– before multicelled ones
– plants appeared before animals
– invertebrates before vertebrates
• Fish appeared first followed
– in succession by amphibians,
– reptiles, mammals, and birds
Advent of Various Vertebrates
• Times
when
major
groups of
vertebrates
appeared
in the
fossil
record
• Thickness
of spindles
shows
relative
abundance
 Fossils Are Common
• Fossils are much more common
– than many people realize
• However the origin and initial diversification
– of a group is generally the most poorly represented
• But fossils showing the diversification
– of horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs
– from a common ancestor are known
• as are ones showing the origin
– of birds from reptiles
• and the evolution
– of whales from a land-dwelling ancestor
 Horses and Their Relatives

• This cladogram shows the relationship among

– tapirs, rhinoceroses, and horses
 Horses and Their Relatives
• These might seem an odd assortment of animals
– but fossils and studies of living animals
– indicate that they shared a common ancestor
• As we trace these animals back
– in the fossil record,
– differentiating one from the other
– becomes increasingly difficult
• The earliest members of each group
– are remarkably similar,
– differing mostly in size and details of their teeth
• As their diversification proceeded
– the differences became more apparent
 Never Enough
• Of course, we will never have enough fossils
– to document the evolutionary history
– of all living creatures simply because fossilization
– is an incomplete process
• The remains of some organisms
– are more likely to be preserved than those of others
– and accumulation of sediments
– varies in both space and time
• But several other kinds of evidence
– support the concept of evolution
– including molecular biology and paleontology
 Summary
• The central claim of evolution is that all organisms
– have descended with modification
– from ancestors that lived during the past.
• Jean Baptiste de Lamarck proposed
– the first formal theory of evolution
– with the mechanism of
– Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
• Darwin’s observation of variation in populations
and artificial selection
– and his reading of Malthus’ essay on population
– helped him formulate his idea of natural selection
 Summary
• In 1859 Charles Robert Darwin
– and Alfred Russel Wallace
– published their ideas of natural selection
– which hold that in populations of organisms,
– wome have favorable traits that make it
– more likely that they will survive and reproduce
– natural selection
 Summary
• Gregor Mendel’s breeding experiments
– with garden peas provided some of the answers
– regarding how variation
– is maintained and passed on
– Mendel’s work is the basis for modern genetics
• Genes are the hereditary units
– in all organisms
• This genetic information is carried
– in the chromosomes of cells.
– Only the genes in sex cells are inheritable
 Summary
• Sexual reproduction and mutations
– account for most variation in populations
• Evolution by natural selection has 2-steps
– First, variation must exist or arise
– and be maintained in interbreeding populations,
– and second, favorable variants
– must be selected for survival
 Summary
• An important way by which new species
evolve is allopatric speciation
– When a group is isolated from its parent
population,
– gene flow is restricted or eliminated,
– and the isolated group is subjected
– to different selection pressures
• Divergent evolution involves
– an ancestral stock giving rise
– to diverse species
 Summary
• The development of similar adaptive types
– in different groups of organisms results
– from parallel and convergent evolution
• Microevolution involves changes within a
species,
– While microevolution encompasses all changes abov
ethe species level.
• Scientists are increasingly using
– cladistic analyses and cladograms
– To depict evolutionary relationships
– Whereas traditionally they used phylogenetic trees
 Summary
• Background extinctions take place
continually,
– but mass extinctions result in marked
decreases
– in Earth’s biologic diversity
• The theory of evolution is truly scientific
– because we can make observations
– that would falsify it
– That is, prove it wrong
 Summary
• Much of the evidence supporting
– the theory of evolution comes from
– classification, comparative anatomy,
– embryology, genetics, biochemistry,
– molecular biology, and present-day small-scale evolution
• The fossil record also provides evidence
– for evolution in that it shows a sequence
– of different groups appearing through time,
– and some fossils show features
– we would expect in the ancestors of birds
– or mammals, and so on