Evolution

CONTENTS
• Evolutionary ideas
• Darwin
• Adaptation – Unity – Diversity
• Evidences of Evolution

1 of 2
Aristotle: Scala Naturae
(384–322 BCE)
 Classify life’s diversity, in his words,
Carl von Linneaus “for the greater glory of God.”
George Cuvier – developed paleontology

CATASTROPHISM
• Species are eliminated by catastrophic
events, only to be replaced by newly
created forms

•His theory accounted for the different

groups of species in each layer of earth
strata but did not account for the more
complex forms
Charls Lyell: Uniformitarianism
Zhangye Danxia National Park, Gansu
province, China's northwest
 Lamarck

•Use and disuse (innate desire to become complex)

•Inheritance of acquired characters
Charls Darwin
The route of HMS Beagle
 Development of evolutionary thought

• Darwin studied a group of closely related species of

finches on the Galapagos Islands.

• Each species specializes in eating a different type of

food and has a beak of characteristic size and shape,
because natural selection has favored the individuals
best suited to exploit each food source efficiently.

• Aside from the differences in their beaks, the finches

are quite similar.
Evolution – time line
Adaptations – Unity – Diversity
Key observations about life

Giant Prickly Stick Insect

PHASMATIDAE: Extatosoma tiaratum
Eastern Coastal Australia

Head-standing beetle
Adaptation – Camouflage
Adaptation – Unity – Diversity
• Only one person appreciated the link
between these ideas → Darwin

• Only one idea unifies these

observations of life → Evolution