Charles Darwin & The

Development of Evolutionary
Thought
Darwin on HMS Beagle 1831-1836
Darwin
Evidence collected by Darwin:
• Fossil glyptodonts similar to armadillos
Fossil Megatherium - sloth
Galapagos Island Finches:
• Varied from island to island
South American Similarities:
• Species in the Galapagos similar to those
found on the West Coast of South
America
Jean Baptiste Lamarck:
• (1744-1829)
• Proposed a mechanism by which
organisms change over time
• Living things evolve through inheritance
of acquired characteristics
• Use it or lose it!!
Main points of Darwin’s Theory:
• Overproduction: more offspring are
produced by an organism than can
possibly survive
Competition:
• high birth rates cause a shortage of life’s
necessities leading to competition
between organisms
• What would organisms compete for?
• Food
• Space
• Light
• Nutrients
• Mates
Variation:
• Each individual differs from all other
members of its species; some differ more
than others
• Results from mutations in DNA
• Mutations are a source of new alleles
• Mutations are random
• Whether they are good or bad depends on
the environment
Adaptation:
• Allows organisms to become better suited
to their environment

Once the pollution was cleaned up the lighter

moth once again became the prevalent species
Natural Selection:
• The most fit (best adapted) organisms
survive and reproduce
Speciation:
• Formation of new species from ancestral
species by means of natural selection

Rana pipiens R. utricularia

R. blairi