Origin of the Concept of Evolution

Before evolution was established as a scientific theory, most believed that every species on Earth was
made by a divine being. This belief is called creationism. Creationists support the idea of constancy of
species-- that life-forms have remained unchanged since the beginning of time.

In the early 1800’s French zoologist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) studied fossils, the preserved
remains of ancient organisms. Analysis of fossils revealed a history of succession of life-forms. However,
Cuvier noted several gaps in the fossil record, where all evidence of life will disappear and then suddenly
reappear after a distinct period of time. Cuvier concluded that these gaps were used by mass extinction
events. This led him to develop the principle of catastrophism, which states that, catastrophic events
end a natural history of life and consequently change how a new period of life develops.

Some Scottish geologists James Hutton (1726-1797) and Charles Lyell (1797-1875), contradicted the
idea of catastrophism. They Instead came up with the idea called uniformitarianism, which states that
Earth’s physical landscape underwent long and continuous change. This idea was adapted by Charles
Darwin. He explained that large geological changes occurred not trough catastrophes but through
gradual geological changes over a long period.

Based on the discussion, what Is the difference between the ideas of catastrophism and
uniformitarianism? Briefly explain your answer below.

In 1809, French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the first biologist to believe in the evolution of life-
forms established the idea known as Lamarckism. He proposed that the driving force of evolution is the
inheritance of acquired characteristics brought about by the environment. The example that Lamarck
gave was the elongation of the giraffe’s neck over time. Ancestors of giraffes might have stretched their
necks to reach leaves of tall trees, and over time, their necks became longer. According to Lamarck,
giraffes passed on this acquired traits to succeeding generations.

Lamarck's idea, however, was disproved. Changes in physical characteristics acquired during an
organism’s lifetime do not affect or change its genes; thus, acquired traits cannot be passed on to
succeeding generations.
Darwin's Theory of Evolution

In 1790, English economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) published an essay on the principle
of Population in which he argued that populations, have the potential to grow faster than their food
supply. He if there would be more people than food, a struggle for existence would occur. This idea
eventually influenced Darwin in coming up with his theory, which will be discussed in this section.

For five years on board the ship HMS Beagle, Darwin traveled around the world and observed
variations among different species of plants and animals. In 1935, Darwin studied the diverse life-forms
in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador He found that similar organisms showed distinct differences in their
boll structures and functions. Darwin concluded that these variations represent adaptations of the
organisms to different environmental conditions.

Adaptation refers to any change in the structural or behavioral characteristics of an organism that
helps it thrive in its environment. During Darwin’s voyage in the Galapagos Islands, he collected
specimens of birds that are now called “Darwin’s finches.” He was not familiar with birds, so he
preserved the specimens to take back to England and collaborated with British ornithologist John Gould
(1804-1881) to further study them. Gould saw the differences in the beaks of the birds and identified 14
different specimens that correspond to different species—I2 of which were new species. Darwin and
Gould concluded that structural adaptations in the beaks of finches are related to their diet (Figure 3-
21. Finches with strong beaks consume seeds; those with small and pointed beaks feed on insects; and
those with short and slender beaks eat fruits and succulents.
 There are 14 different species of finches can be traced back to a common ancestor, a seed-eating
ground finch. When a drought occurred in the islands in 1977, the seed-eating ground finches were
forced to find a new diet due to scarcity in food. They developed different types of beak that are specific
to resources that were more available, such as insects and succulents. If the seed-eating ground finches
did not adapt to their food source, they would have decreased in number and eventually become
extinct.

Other structural adaptations of organisms are shown in figure 3.3

What do you think are the structural adaptations in figure 3.3?

For 20 years, Darwin gathered evidence to support his ideas about evolution but did not publish
them. In 1859, a year after Darwin received an essay (containing similar Ideas as his) from British
naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), he published his findings in his book On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection. This and another book, The Descent of Man ,were initially
criticized, especially by creationists, because the books presented the idea that humans shared a
common ancestor with the great apes. Later on, Darwin’s ideas were gradually accepted because
modern researches also established the same conclusion as shown in the phylogenetic tree (figure). The
tree placed a common ancestor that lived approximately 12 to 16 million years ago (MYA).

Based on figure 3-4, what is the common ancestor of orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and humans?

In his book, Darwin presented evidence for evolution and proposed the theory of evolution by
natural selection. Natural Selection assumes that organisms with traits that are well-suited to the
environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than those organisms without those traits.
Darwin, however, could not explain how these traits were inherited. Eventually, using genetic principles
that were later established by Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Darwin’s ideas laid the
foundation for the modern theory of evolution.
In your own words, briefly explain how natural selection works.

Since some organisms survive better than others, natural selection tends to eliminate the organisms
with characteristics unfit to their environment. Hence, an organism's fitness depends on its
environment.

Fitness refers to how well an organism's traits can function in a specific environment. It is the ability
of an organism to survive, mate, and reproduce. It does not necessarily refer to the biggest, fastest, or
strongest organism. One trait may be beneficial or suitable in one situation but not in another. For
example, if a peahen prefers to mate with a more colorful peacock, that peacock is more suited or fitter,
than a less colorful peacock. However, the more colorful peacock is also more visible, and therefore
more likely to be killed by predators.

In Darwin's view of natural selection, the fittest organisms acquire more resources, survive longer,
and reproduce more. The following are his major arguments on natural selection:

• Organisms tend to produce more offspring than the environment can support.

• The lack of resource and space in the environment results in increased competition among organisms
that face constant struggle for existence.

• Organisms best adapted to the environment are most likely to survive and produce fertile offspring,
while those with less favorable traits will most likely be eliminated.

• All living organisms vary genetically. These genetic variations are passed from generation to
generation.

• When particular variations accumulate in succeeding generations, the result may lead to evolution.

Catastrophism- states that Earth's landscapes developed over short time spans primarily as a result of
great catastrophes. 

Uniformitarianism- one of the fundamental principles of modern geology.

 evolution is the change in the characteristics of a species over several generations  and relies on the
process of natural selection. 

as the process of growth and development or the theory that organisms have grown and developed
from past organisms.