Evolution , Natural Selection,

and the History of Life

The Stories of Charles Darwin and
Alfred Russell Wallace
 What is your “working definition” of
Evolution?

 I don’t need the book answer, I would

like “your” answer.
A Quick History of Life

 The Earth formed 4.6 BILLION years ago

 Early Earth was very unstable and too hot
for life to exist.
 3.9 Billion years ago Earth cooled enough
for water vapor to condense to form rain
and seas.
 3.5 Billion years ago the first living
organisms appear.
I. Origin Of Life
 Life began during the first billion years of Eart
h’s history (which is 4.5 billion years old).
 The ocean received organic matter from the
land and the atmosphere, as well as from
meteorites and comets.
 Substances such as water, carbon dioxide,
methane, and hydrogen cyanide formed key
molecules such as sugars, amino acids, and
nucleotides - the building blocks of proteins
and nucleic acids.
How it may have started

 Planetary processes such as ocean

chemistry (mixing of organic matter), a
turbulent atmosphere (lightning, clouds,
solar radiation) and volcanic activity
together led to the formation of life.
 Early life
 Life began as single-celled microorganisms,
most likely anaerobic bacteria since no
oxygen was present in the atmosphere 3.5
billion years ago. Their fossilized structure
suggests that they were photosynthetic.
 Between 1 & 2 bya, the single-celled
eukaryotic organisms with their complex
system of organelles and membranes
evolved into multi-cellular organisms.
Increasing in complexity
 The evolution of the
plants and animals
most familiar to us
occurred only in the
last 550 million years.
Evidence of Early life: The Fossil Record

 Microbial life of the simplest type was

discovered in fossils and dated to come from a
time period of 3.5 billion years ago.
 The oldest evidence of more complex
organisms (eukaryotic bacteria) has been
discovered in fossils sealed in rocks
approximately 2 billion years old.
 Multi-cellular organisms (the familiar fungi,
plants, and animals) have been found only in
younger fossils:
 Life Form Millions of Years Since First
Known Appearance
Microbial (prokaryotic cells) 3500
Complex (eukaryotic cells) 2000
First multi-cellular animals 670
Shell-bearing animals 540
Vertebrates (simple fishes) 490
Amphibians 350
Reptiles 310
Mammals 200
Nonhuman primates 60
Earliest apes 25
Human ancestors 4
Modern humans 0.15 (150,000 years)
 Many intermediate forms have been
discovered between fish and
amphibians, between amphibians and
reptiles, between reptiles and mammals,
and along the primate lines of descent in
the fossil record, showing the evolution
between species.
The origin of life according to the
scientific method.
 Spontaneous generation – The process by
which life was thought to be produced by
non-living matter.
 Disproved by Francesco Redi
 Biogenesis – The idea that living organisms
come only from other living organisms.
 Proved by Louis Pasteur
 Miller and Urey test the theory of life starting
in the oceans.
Evolution of Cells
 Protocell – A large ordered structure that carries
out some activities associated with life such as
growth, division , or metabolism.
 The first cells used organic molecules for food
and were prokaryotic cells referred to as
heterotrophic prokaryotes
 Archeabacteria – prokaryotes that live in harsh
conditions. Glucose is made by chemosynthesis
The theory of Evolution
 Charles Darwin is credited with the concept
of Evolution, but he was not the first person
to suggest that organisms change over time.
 Several scientists before Darwin alluded to
the concept of Evolution. They never
explained how it could happen.
 Darwin gets the credit for the theory of
evolution because he described or
explained how evolution could occur.
Lets do a little research on the
history behind evolutionary thought
 http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/
search/topicbrowse2.php?topic_id=48
Evolution Defined
 Evolutions was first define as a change
in a species over time.
 This first general definition was too
vague and general. It allowed for much
debate.
 A current and less arguable definition of
Evolution is:
 Evolution is the change in gene
frequency in a population over time.
Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
 1. In the early 1800’s, Lamarck, a French
biologist, developed a theory of evolution based
on his belief in two biological processes.
 1 The use and disuse of organs. Lamarck believed
that organisms respond to changes in the environment
by developing new organs or modifying old ones
(acquired characteristics). Disuse results in the
disappearance of the organ.
 Inheritance of acquired traits. Lamarck believed that
these acquired characteristics were then passed on to
offspring.
Example of Lamarck’s theory
 Lamarck believed that at one time giraffes had
short necks and ate grass. Then either grass
became scarce or other animals out-competed
the giraffes for the grass so they started eating
leaves off trees. As lower leaves became
scarce, they stretched to reach higher leaves.
Their necks gradually got longer and they
passed the longer necks to their offspring.
Alfred Russell Wallace
 Another Naturalist that was interested in
Biology and Geology.
 Younger than Darwin, but came up with
the idea of organisms changing over
time.
 Wallace new that Darwin had already
been working on an explanation of
evolution and sent him a draft of his
theory.
Wallace and Darwin
 Darwin read the theory and was worried that
Wallace would publish before him, but
encouraged the young naturalist.
 Darwin was very methodical, in fact, his
friends thought too methodical.
 Everyone “knew” Darwin had a theory
regarding evolution but was not publishing it
 After much pressure from friends he presented
his information, along with Wallace at a
meeting.
 Shortly after the meeting he published On the
Origin of Species
Darwin

 Was a pigeon breeder and noticed that

people could select and breed for
specific traits.
 Artificial selection – A technique in which
breeders select for a particular trait.
 Darwin applied the idea of artificial
selection to the natural environment and
termed it Natural Selection.
Natural Selection

 A mechanism for change in populations

that occurs when organisms with
favorable variations for a particular
environment survive, reproduce, and
pass on these variations on to the next
generation.
Darwin

 1. As a naturalist, Darwin traveled to

South America on the ship the H.M.S.
Beagle. While there he found evidence
that the Earth was very old by observing
an earthquake and discovering marine
fossils on mountaintops. He also found
evidence of evolution.
Darwin
 While on the Galapagos Islands,
Darwin noticed that plants and
animals were like those on the
mainland, but not exactly alike. He
realized that the species came from
the mainland and changed into a
new species. He came up with his
theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection.
 Darwin observed that:

 Individuals in a population have traits that vary

 Many of these traits are heritable (passed from
parents to offspring)
 More offspring are produced than survive

 Competition is inevitable

 Species generally suit their environment

 Darwin inferred that:

 Individuals that are best suited to their

environment are more likely to survive and
reproduce
 Over time, more individuals in a population will
have the advantageous traits
 In other words, the natural environment
“selects” for beneficial traits
 Darwin’s theory had 5
main points:

 1. Variation exists
among individuals of a
species.

 For example, some

gorillas have longer
arms than others,
some ladybugs have
more spots than
others, etc.
Darwin Evolution by Natural Selection

 2. All organisms compete for the

same limited resources.
Such competition would lead to the
death of some individuals, while
others would survive.
3.Organisms produce more
offspring than can survive.
The available resources cannot
support all these individuals.
Darwin Evolution by Natural Selection

 4. The environment selects

organisms with beneficial traits.
 5. Organisms with traits best suited to
the environment will reproduce and
pass on these traits at a greater rate
than organisms less suited to the
environment. This “survival of the
fittest” is called Natural Selection.
Conditions Necessary for Natural
Selection
 Over production of offspring
 Variation of traits
 Individuals with favorable variations
survive and pass on variations to the
next generation.
 Gradually offspring make-up a larger
proportion of the population
 See handout
Origin of Variation
 From where do the “fittest” get their beneficial
traits? Variations must be genetic (in the sex
cells) to be passed on to offspring. There are
two fundamental sources of variation in a
species:
Mutation - a change in the
chemical structure of the gene, so it will be
passed on to the offspring.
Genetic recombination - mixing of the
genes between chromosomes during
meiosis.
Selection Pressure

 Selection Pressure is the force exerted

by nature which directs an organisms
evolution and causes one trait to b better
than another.
IV. Processes of Evolution

 5 main processes that upset the genetic

equilibrium of a population:

 A. Natural Selection – Disrupts a normal

population by allowing fit individuals to
survive and reproduce at higher rates
than less fit individuals. There are three
types of natural selection:
Natural Selection

 1. Directional Selection – Natural

selection that proceeds in a given
direction.
 Ex.) Necks of giraffes – evolution has
proceeded in the direction of longer
necks.
Natural Selection

 2. Stabilizing Selection – Selection that

eliminates the extremes of a trait causing
a reduction in variation of a species.
 Ex.) Leg length of rabbits – long legs are
eliminated because the rabbits can’t crawl
into a hole to escape predators, short
legs are eliminated because they cannot
run fast enough to escape predators.
Natural Selection

 3. Disruptive Selection – Selects against

the average and favors the extremes of
a trait.
 Acorns – squirrels do not eat the
smallest, not enough food. Squirrels do
not eat the largest, to hard to carry.
Squirrels eat the average, after many
years the average become eliminated.
Migration

 B. Migration – The movement of

organisms into or out of a population.
 A herd of caribou lives in Canada. A
second, genetically different herd
migrates to mix with the first herd. The
gene pools of the two herds mix,
genetically changing the original
population.
2 Types Of Migration

 1. Immigration – The movement of new

individuals into a population.
 2. Emigration – The movement of
individuals out of a population.
Genetic Drift

 C. Genetic Drift – The change in gene

frequency of a population due to chance.
 Ex.) In a population of 16 long-horned
beetles, 15 are black and 1 is red. If
random mating occurs, there is a chance
the red won’t mate, thus eliminating that
trait from the population.
Isolation
 D. Isolation – Isolation occurs when a geographic
boundary separates a population into groups that
can no longer interact. Boundaries can include
rivers, mountains and canyons. Isolation often
results in the evolution of a new species.
 Ex.) The camel originated in the U.S. It spread to
Asia and South America over land bridges during
the Ice Ages. Over time the separated
populations evolved and became different
species – the camel in Asia and the llama in
South America.
Mutation

 E. Mutation – Harmful mutations are

eliminated from a population because
the organism usually doesn’t live to
reproduce. Beneficial mutations are
passed on to offspring, thus changing
the population.
Sexual selection

 A form of natural selection in which

individuals with certain traits are more
likely than others to obtain mates.

 Mate choice based on a trait

V. Patterns of Evolution

 A. Divergent Evolution – The process by

which related organisms become less
alike.
Divergent Evolution

 1. Speciation – Divergent evolution

results in a new species.
 Ex.) A group of brown bears becomes
isolated from another group. The isolated
group moves into northern Canada and
eventually develops heads and necks
suited for swimming and white fur, thus
diverged from their ancestors.
Adaptive Radiation
 2. Adaptive
Radiation – Process
by which individuals
of a new species
adapt to a variety of
habitats.
 Ex.) Darwin’s finches
adapt to eating
different types of
food by changing
beak types.
4 Types of Speciation

 1. Allopatric speciation - physical barrier

divides population
 2. Peripatric speciation - small
founding population enters isolated niche
 3. Parapatric speciation - new niche
found adjacent to original one
 4. Sympatric speciation - speciation
occurs without physical separation
Allopatric Speciation
 A population splits into two geographically isolated
populations.
 The isolated populations then undergo genotypic and/or
phenotypic divergence.
 become subjected to dissimilar selective pressures
 independently undergo genetic drift.
 When the populations come back into contact, they have
evolved such that they are reproductively isolated.

Examples:
 Differnces between organisms on Komodo island.
 Darwin's Galápagos Finches.
Peripatric Speciation
 New species are formed in isolated, small peripheral
populations that are prevented from exchanging genes with
the main population.
 Related to the concept of a founder effect, since small
populations often undergo bottlenecks.
 Genetic drift is often proposed to play a significant role in
peripatric speciation.

Examples:
The Australian bird Petroica multicolor
The London Underground mosquito
Parapatric Speciation
 A form of speciation that occurs due to variations in the
mating habits of a population within a continuous
geographical area.
 In this model, the parent species lives in a continuous habitat
 In contrast with allopatric speciation and peripatric speciation
where subpopulations become geographically isolated.

 Niches in this habitat can differ along an environmental

gradient, hampering gene flow, and thus creating a cline.

Example: the grass Anthoxanthum tolerant to high mineral

content in soil near abandoned mines.
Sympatric Speciation
 Species diverge while inhabiting the same place.
 Examples of sympatric speciation are found in insects
that become dependent on different host plants in the
same area.
 Fig wasps, cichlid fish

 The existence of sympatric speciation as a mechanism

of speciation is still hotly contested
Types of Speciation (graphical)
Two other types of speciation
 Polyploidization - change in the number of
chromosomes via mutation or reproduction.
 Example: various plants and some amphibians

 Hybridization - two different species reproduce

and the resulting offspring is fertile, but does
not reproduce with members of the two
original species.
 Example: various plants
Convergent Evolution
 B. Convergent Evolution – The process by
which distantly related organisms develop
similar characteristics because they share the
same environment.
 Ex.) Whales were once land mammals that
adapted to an aquatic environment by
changing from legs to flippers for swimming.
They began to resemble fish, which are not
closely related.
Convergent Evolution
 Can lead to Mimicry
– the evolution of
one organism so it
resembles another.
 Ex. The Viceroy
butterfly, a nontoxic
insect, mimics the
Monarch butterfly, a
toxic insect.
Review: Disruptions to genetic
Equilibrium
 Genetic equilibrium - no change in frequency of an
allele
 1. Natural Selection
 2. Migration (Immigration, Emigration)
 3. Isolation
 4. Genetic Drift
 5. Sexual selection
 6. Genetic recombination
 7. Mutation
Punctuated Equilibrium
 Proposed by Stephen Jay Gould
 Contradicts Darwin’s concept of gradualism.
 Gould proposed that that most sexually reproducing
species will experience little evolutionary change for most
of their geological history.
 Gould termed this a state of stasis.
 When evolution occurs, it is localized in rare, rapid events
of branching speciation.
 He termed the rapid branching cladogenesis.
 Cladogenesis is the process by which species split into two
distinct species, rather than one species gradually
transforming into another.
 The Tree of Life
 “Unity in diversity” arises from “descent with
modification”
 For example, the forelimb of the bat, human,
horse and the whale flipper all share a common
skeletal architecture
 Fossils provide additional evidence of
anatomical unity from descent with
modification

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

  Darwin proposed that natural selection
could cause an ancestral species to give
rise to two or more descendent species
 For example, the finch species of the
Galápagos Islands
 Evolutionary relationships are often
illustrated with tree-like diagrams that show
ancestors and their descendents

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

Fig. 1-22

Warbler finches

Insect-eaters
Green warbler finch
Certhidea olivacea

COMMON Gray warbler finch

ANCESTOR Certhidea fusca

Seed-eater
Sharp-beaked
ground finch

Bud-eater
Geospiza difficilis
Vegetarian finch
Platyspiza
crassirostris
Mangrove finch
Cactospiza heliobates

Insect-eaters
Tree finches
Woodpecker finch
Cactospiza pallida

Medium tree finch

Camarhynchus pauper
Large tree finch
Camarhynchus
psittacula
Small tree finch
Camarhynchus
parvulus

Cactus-flower-
Large cactus
ground finch
eaters
Geospiza conirostris
Cactus ground finch
Ground finches

Seed-eaters

Geospiza scandens

Small ground finch

Geospiza fuliginosa

Medium ground finch

Geospiza fortis

Large ground finch

Geospiza
magnirostris
Fig. 1-22a

Warbler finches

Insect-eaters

Green warbler finch

Certhidea olivacea

Gray warbler finch

Certhidea fusca
Seed-eater

Sharp-beaked
ground finch
Bud-eater

Geospiza difficilis
Vegetarian finch
Platyspiza crassirostris
Fig. 1-22b

Mangrove finch
Cactospiza heliobates
Insect-eaters
Tree finches

Woodpecker finch
Cactospiza pallida

Medium tree finch

Camarhynchus pauper

Large tree finch

Camarhynchus
psittacula
Small tree finch
Camarhynchus parvulus
Fig. 1-22c

Cactus-flower-
Large cactus
ground finch

eaters
Geospiza conirostris
Cactus ground finch
Ground finches

Seed-eaters

Geospiza scandens

Small ground finch

Geospiza fuliginosa

Medium ground finch

Geospiza fortis

Large ground finch

Geospiza
magnirostris
Fig. 1-UN1
 Evidence For Evolution
Fossil record
 1. Microbial life of the simplest type was
discovered in fossils and dated to come from a
time period of 3.5 billion years ago.
 2. The oldest evidence of more complex

organisms (eukaryotic bacteria) has been

discovered in fossils sealed in rocks
approximately 2 billion years old.
 3. Multi-cellular organisms (the familiar fungi,

plants, and animals) have been found only in

younger fossils:
The Fossil record

 4. Many intermediate forms have been

discovered between fish and
amphibians, between amphibians and
reptiles, between reptiles and mammals,
and along the primate lines of descent in
the fossil record, showing the evolution
between species.
The Fossil Record
 5. There is also consistent evidence of
systematic change through time -- of
descent with modification (evolutionary
changes between classes of animals).
That is, fish came first, then amphibians,
followed by reptiles and finally mammals.
 No two classes made their first

appearance in the fossil record at the

same time.
B. Anatomical Evidence
 1.Body parts with the same basic
structure are called Homologous
Structures.
 These are structures in which the size
and shape are different, but the number
and arrangement of bones are the same.
 Homologous structures found in different

organisms suggest that these organisms

share a common ancestor.
An example of homologous
structures is:
whale flipper - lion
leg -

4. Examples of
homologous
structures can also
be grouped by
function.
Anatomical Structures (Continued)

 Vestigial
Structures, structures that have
been greatly reduced in size and no longer
serve an important function, also provide
evidence for evolution.
 An example of this is the small hipbones in whales
and snakes suggesting the whale and snake came
from an ancestor with hips, and the splint-like
bone in horses that indicated an ancestor with a
side toe.
Human Vestigial Structures:
 Ear muscles help monkey’s move ears to sense
danger, but do nothing in humans.
Appendix - used by ancestors to digest cellulose
of plants.
Coccyx (tail bone) - No longer needed for original
function of balance and mobility.
plica semilunaris - remnant of the nictitating membrane
(the "third eyelid") which is present in other animals.
5. Wisdom teeth - third molars that human ancestors
used to help in grinding down plant tissue.
6. Goose bumps - its purpose in human
evolutionary ancestors was to raise the body's
hair, making the ancestor appear larger and
scaring off predators. Raising the hair is also used
to trap an extra layer of air, keeping an animal
warm.
Anatomical Structures (continued)

 Analogous Structures, body

parts that are similar in
function but not in basic
structure, are not evidence of
evolution.
 a. An example of this type of
structure are the wings of birds,
insects, bats dinosaurs.
 A. Moth B. Pterosaur C. Bird D. Bat
Wing Wing Wing Wing
 All of these organisms use their wings to fly,
but they are composed of different structures.
C. Embryological Evidence

 1. Studying organisms at very early

stages of development, while they are still
embryos, suggests different vertebrate
species share common genetic
instructions for embryo development.
The final bit of evidence for
Evolution is:
 Similarity in DNA
 Video: Albatross Courtship Ritual

Video: Blue-footed Boobies Courtship Ritual

Video: Galápagos Islands Overview

Video: Galápagos Marine Iguana

Video: Galápagos Sea Lion

Video: Galápagos Tortoise

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings