Darwin and evolution

GET1020

Dr John van Wyhe

Contents © J. van Wyhe et al. The reproduction of

these slides is against national and international law.
Illegal distribution or sale will be prosecuted.
 https://
us02web.zoom.us/
meeting/register/
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• See: Darwin’s dissecting microscope,
1865.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/framese
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 Galapagos finches from the
Zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle.
 Darwin’s finches:
Perhaps the most iconic birds in science.

• I found this image on an

educational website on the
internet.
• Video clips:
• ‘The Voyage of Charles Darwin’ (1978)

• ‘Master and commander’ (2003)

John Gould, ornithologist
 Galapagos finches

• From Darwin, Journal of researches, 1845.

 Galapagos mockingbirds

• Mimus trifasciatus • Mimus melanotis • Mimus parvulus

from Charles from Chatham and from Albemarle
Island. Plate 16 James’s Island. Island. Plate 18
from Birds. Plate 17 from from Birds.
Birds.
Darwin’s ornithological
collection notes, 1836
“I certainly
recognize
S America in
Ornithology,
would a botanist?”
From Darwin’s Galapagos notebook
One of Darwin’s Galapagos plant specimens

• “Of flowering plants there

are… 225 [species]…100
are new species, and are
probably confined to this
archipelago.”
 Why were there so many unique species? And
why were so many from American families?

• “Why, on these small points of land, which

within a late geological period must have
been covered by the ocean, which are
formed of basaltic lava, and therefore
differ in geological character from the
American continent, and which are placed
under a peculiar climate,—why were their
aboriginal inhabitants… created on
American types of organization?”
• Darwin, Journal of researches, 1845, p. 393.
Galapagos Islands 600 miles from South America
The species must have come from South America
Did each species reach only one island?
Darwin reasoned that they must have migrated within the islands
Coral atolls
• Darwin, The structure and distribution
of coral reefs (1842)
Coral atolls. How did they form?
Tahiti (November 1835)
‘The Bounty’ (1984 film)

• 1787 voyage of HMS

Bounty
• Move clip
 Christian missionaries in Tahiti

• FitzRoy & Darwin. A letter, containing remarks on the moral state of Tahiti South
African Christian Recorder (1836).
The island and reef of Moorea (Eimeo) seen
from the peak of Tahiti
 Darwin’s theory of coral atoll formation

• How did this work?

Bikini atoll
"Darwin was right"
“The dark blue colour represents atolls …
The pale blue colour represents barrier-reefs.
The red colour represents reefs, fringing the land”

From Darwin’s Structure and distribution of coral reefs (1842)

 South America rising?

• Where are the reefs?

Sydney, Australia
 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?
pageseq=464&itemID=F14&viewtype=text

• “After several tedious delays from clouded

weather, on the 14th of March [1836], we
gladly stood out of King George's Sound
on our course to Keeling Island. Farewell,
Australia! you are a rising child, and
doubtless some day will reign a great
princess in the South: but you are too
great and ambitious for affection, yet not
great enough for respect. I leave your
shores without sorrow or regret.”
Map of the voyage from FitzRoy’s Proceedings of the
second expedition, 1831-36 (1839)
Island of St Helena
St Helena, 11 July 1836
• See the
published
Beagle
specimens
here.
Fossil mammals
Fossil shells
Mammals
Birds
Fish
Reptiles and amphibians
Insects
Living plants
Fungi
Marine Bryozoa
Other invertebrates
 Not published were:
• Fossil plants
• Majority of the plants & fish
• Rocks & minerals
• Crustaceans
• Spiders
• And more…