CELS 191

Lecture 2
Natural Selection
(lectured by Liz Duncan from the Biochem dept)

25/2/14

Describe the theory of evolution via natural selection

Describe the history of the idea of Natural Selection
Explain the idea of Sexual Selection

Prior to Darwin, there were 3 men who coined ideas relating to evolution,
though it was not called that at the time:
Emedocles
Al-Beronia
Chevalier de la Mack
Charles Darwin came from a highly regarded family with a lineage of doctors.
His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, wrote the poem Zoonomia (1794) which
stated that society thought it was too bold to believe that Earth existed before
man. It was influenced by the idea that God is the great cause i.e. evolution was
not possible.
Darwin trained to be a medical doctor, however dropped out after 2 years and
trained to be a parson. After this, he never practiced as a parson.
Charles Darwin himself was a creationist influenced by the likes of William
Paleys Evidences of Christianity. He spent lengthy time in South America
during his voyage on the Beagle, however, the idea of natural selection did not
come about until he shifted back to England and settled down with his family.
Natural Selection
Natural selection is a testable hypothesis that provides a mechanism to explain
evolution, proposed by Charles Darwin. For example, humans have used natural
selection to shape the evolution of pigeons (noted by Darwin), in the similar way
that domestication has changed dogs.
Darwin developed the idea over 20 years, and did not release his findings earlier
because it was too controversial for the times.
Tree of Life diagram that shows how species are related to each other
Natural selection can be characterised by:
Variation
Inheritance
Selection
Time
Sexual Selection
Put simply, this is where an animal chooses one mate over another of the same
species. The choice of a mate is based purely on appearance rather than fitness.