ADAPTATION

AND EVOLUTION
Marianne K. Bongcac

Thi s Photo by Unknown Author i s licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

GOSPEL READING
& PRAYER
JOHN 8:21-30
Again he said to them, "I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going,
you cannot come." Then said the Jews, "Will he kill himself, since he says, `Where I am going,
you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this
world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your
sins unless you believe that I am he." They said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them,
"Even what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge;
but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him." They did
not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the
Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but
speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone,
for I always do what is pleasing to him." As he spoke thus, many believed in him.
LET US PRAY:

Lord Jesus, may I be one with you in all that I say and do. Draw me close that I
may glorify you and bear fruit for your kingdom.

Inflame my heart with your love and remove from it anything that would make
me ineffective or unfruitful in loving and serving you as my All.

Live Jesus in our hearts, Forever!

WHY DO WE THINK EVOLUTION HAS OCCURRED?

• Organisms exhibit a range of similarities to each other.

• Domestic animals and plants can be changed.
• Organisms are limited by their heritage and by compromise.
• Presence of vestigial structures (body parts that serve a function in some
animals, but not in related animals).
ORGANIC EVOLUTION

• The change in genetics of a population over time (generations)

• Slow process of change by which organisms have acquired their distinguishing
characteristics
• Can be studied at two levels:
• MICROEVOLUTION
• MACROEVOLUTION
ORGANIC EVOLUTION

• The change in genetics of a population over time (generations)

• Slow process of change by which organisms have acquired their distinguishing
characteristics
• Can be studies at two levels:
• MICROEVOLUTION – small-scale genetic changes within populations
• MACROEVOLUTION – large-scale results of genetic changes in
populations including the formation of new species (speciation) and
large-scale trends in traits across species
George Cuvier - catastrophism George Louis Buffon- driven by Jean Baptiste de Lamarck – 1)
environmental changes theory of inheritance… and 2)
theory use and disuse
MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION
(BASED ON NATURAL SELECTION)

• Common Descent
• Organisms originate from one common ancestor
• The genealogies of modern species as well as those which are extinct can
be traced backward until the ancestral lineage may be identified
• Variations
• Species vary in physical feature and such variations can be passed over
generations
• Genes are responsible for the appearance of organisms and variations
result from mutation
MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION
(BASED ON NATURAL SELECTION)

• Struggle for Existence

• All organisms tend to compete for resources, some individuals survive and
reproduce more effectively than the others, only those can continuously
exist.
• Adaptation
• Species that are well adapted will survive and will reproduce successfully
while those which are not will be eliminated
Asa Gray’s scheme of classification (1879)
• The study of diversity
of organisms using
information at all
levels of organization
(from cellular to
population) Crisci and Katinas (2011)
• Reflects phylogeny
• The evolutionary
history of a group
of organisms
CHARACTERISTICS

• Character
• Any structural, chromosomal, or molecular feature that distinguishes one
group from another.
• Primitive character
• Trait that is present in a common ancestor and all members of the group
• Derived character
• Trait that is present only in a specific line of descent
CLADISTIC SYSTEMATICS

• Based on the work of Willi Hennig

• Cladistics
• Method of hypothesizing relationships among taxa
• Analyze primitive and derived characters and constructs cladograms on
the basis of shared derived characters
• Cladogram
• Diagram showing relationships among species based on shared, derived
characters
• Traces the evolutionary history of taxa being studied
READING A CLADOGRAM

• This root is frequently referred to as the last universal common ancestor

(LUCA)
• The terminal nodes represent the operational taxonomic units (OTUs) or
leaves.
• the internal nodes represent hypothetical taxonomic units (HTUs) or an
inferred unit and it represents the last common ancestor (LCA) to the nodes
arising from this point
• Descendants (taxa) that split from the same node form sister groups
• A taxon that falls outside the clade is called an outgroup
• Choose the simplest scientific explanation
that fits the evidence
• In constructing cladograms: the best
hypothesis is the one that requires the
fewest evolutionary changes