Development of

Evolutionary Thought
 What is Evolution?

Douglas Futuyma defines evolution as “a change in the properties of groups of

organisms over the course of generation. it embraces everything from slight
changes in the proportions of different forms of a gene within a population to the
alterations that led from the earliest organism to dinosaurs, bees, oaks, and
humans.” “Evolution may be defined as any net directional change or any
cumulative change in the characteristics of organisms or populations over many
generations— in other words, descent with modification… It explicitly includes the
origin as well as the spread of alleles, variants, trait values, or character states” by
John Endler and in a very different vein, Leigh van Valen characterized evolution as
“the control of development by ecology;” this anticipates those who emphasize the
importance of development in evolution, including proponents of “evo-devo”.
 Evolutionary thoughts contributors

 Carl Linnaeus was the famous 18th century Swedish

botanist and naturalist who created the basic biological
taxonomy — the so-called binomial classification system
that is the foundation of our modern taxonomic system
 Linnaeus' classification, at its most basic, uses the dual
"genus, species," nomenclature to classify organisms —
everything from slime molds and bacteria to elephants and
humans. When Linnaeus finished his doctorate, he published
a brief pamphlet that would eventually revolutionize the
fields of biology and scientific taxonomy. This "list" was
written in Latin and was called Systema Naturae ("The
System of Nature").
 It proposed a radical new approach to the ordering and
classification of plants and animals. His system was hierarchically
ranked, meaning that organisms were grouped into successively
larger groups based on morphological traits (that is, physical
attributes). At the broadest level, the classification system was
divided into three broad kingdoms: animals, plants and minerals
(the mineral designation was subsequently dropped). These
categories were further subdivided into increasingly specific
designations, which included "classes," "orders," "genera," and
"species." Linnaeus combined two terms, genus and species, and
used this combination to identify each particular organism
Thomas Robert Malthus was born near Guildford, Surrey
in February 1766. Malthus' most well-known work, 'An
Essay on the Principle of Population' was published in
1798, although he was the author of many pamphlets and
other longer tracts including 'An Inquiry into the Nature
and Progress of Rent' (1815) and 'Principles of Political
Economy' (1820). Malthus first pointed out that human
nature being what it is, the passion between the sexes
appears to be fairly constant and, if unchecked population
will double itself every twenty-five years.
 "Population, when unchecked, increases at a
geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an
arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with
numbers will show the immensity of the first power
in comparison with the second." And this leads to
Malthus’s principle of population. Because of this
unequal power between production and
reproduction, "population must always be kept down
to the level of the means of subsistence.”
Georges Cuvier possessed one of the finest minds in
history. Almost singlehandedly, he founded vertebrate
paleontology as a scientific discipline and created the
comparative method of organismal biology, an incredibly
powerful tool. It was Cuvier who firmly established the fact
of the extinction of past life forms
He contributed an immense amount of research in
vertebrate and invertebrate zoology and paleontology,
and also wrote and lectured on the history of science.
Catastrophism was a theory developed by Cuvier based
on paleontological evidence in the Paris Basin
He observed something peculiar about the fossil
record, instead of finding a continuous succession of
fossils, he noticed several gaps where all evidence of
life would disappear and then abruptly reappear again
after a notable amount of time. Cuvier recognized
these gaps in the fossil succession as mass
extinction events. This led to the formation of
Theory of Catastrophism. It states that natural
history has been punctuated by catastrophic events that
altered that way life developed and rocks were
deposited.
 James Hutton (1726–1797), a Scottish
farmer and naturalist, is known as the
founder of modern geology. He
developed the theory of gradualism
according to which profound changes
to the Earth, such as the Grand Canyon,
are due to slow continues process and
not part of catastrophes as proposed
by the Theory of Catastrophism
Hutton described a universe, that one formed by a
continuous cycle in which rocks and soil are washed
into the sea, compacted into bedrock, forced up to the
surface by volcanic processes, and eventually worn
away into sediment once again. Relying on the same
methods as do modern field geologists
 Hutton cited as evidence a cliff at nearby Siccar Point,
where the juxtaposition of vertical layers of gray shale and
overlying horizontal layers of red sandstone could only be
explained by the action of stupendous forces over vast
periods of time. There Hutton realized that the sediments
now represented by the gray shale had, after deposition,
been uplifted, tilted, eroded away, and then covered by an
ocean, from which the red sandstone was then deposited.
The boundary between the two rock types at Siccar Point
is now called the Hutton Unconformity. The fundamental
force, theorized Hutton, was subterranean heat, as
evidenced by the existence of hot springs and volcanoes.
Charles Lyell was a Scottish lawyer
and the foremost geologist of his day.
He is best known as the author of
Principles of Geology. It has
popularized geologist James Hutton’s
concept of “uniformitarianism” — the
idea that the Earth was shaped by
slow-moving forces still in operation
today.
 Uniformitarian ideas opposed the common belief among
many geologists that unique catastrophes or supernatural
events, like the biblical flood in the story of Noah, shaped
Earth’s surface. The motto of uniformitarianism was “the
present is the key to the past.” Lyell’s friend, Charles
Darwin, took that idea and extended it to biology. Lyell
argued that the formation of Earth's crust took place
through countless small changes occurring over vast
periods of time, all according to known natural laws.
 His "uniformitarian" proposal was that the
forces molding the planet today have
operated continuously throughout its
history. He also wrongly assumed that these
causes must have acted only with the same
intensities now observed, which would rule out
asteroid impacts and the like.
 Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-
1829) is one of the best-known early
evolutionists. Unlike Darwin,
Lamarck believed that living things
evolved in a continuously upward
direction, from dead matter, through
simple to more complex forms,
toward human "perfection."
 Species didn't die out in extinctions, Lamarck
claimed. Instead, they changed into other
species. Since simple organisms exist alongside
complex "advanced" animals today, Lamarck
thought they must be continually created by
spontaneous generation. According to Lamarck,
organisms altered their behavior in response to
environmental change. Their changed behavior,
in turn, modified their organs, and their
offspring inherited those "improved" structures.
He proposed the Theory of evolution by means of use and
disuse. “The frequent use of any organ, when confirmed by
habit, increases the functions of that organ, leads to its
development and endows it with a size and power which it
does not possess in animals which exercise it less.”
Decreased use has the opposite effect: “The permanent disuse
of an organ, arising from a change of habits, causes a gradual
shrinkage and ultimately the disappearance and even
extinction of that organ” Another contribution of Lamarck is
the Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics. If an
organism changes during life in order to adapt to its
environment, those changes are passed on to its offspring.
Charles Darwin’s voyage and his observations that led him to write
“THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”
 Charles Darwin’s voyage and his observations that led him to write
“THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES”

In 1831, Charles Darwin received an astounding invitation to

accompany Captain Robert FitzRoy of the HMS Beagle as
ship's naturalist for a trip around the world. For most of the
next five years, the Beagle surveyed the coast of South
America, leaving Darwin free to explore the continent and
islands, including the Galápagos. He filled dozens of
notebooks with careful observations on animals, plants and
geology, and collected thousands of specimens, which he
crated and sent home for further study. Darwin later called the
Beagle voyage "by far the most important event in my life,"
saying it "determined my whole career."
San Cristobal Island was the first island Charles Darwin visited
arriving to the Galapagos on September 16th, 1835. The Beagle
anchored in a calm bay on the south of the island, near the actual capital
of the Galapagos. The Beagle spent eight days surveying the coast.
Darwin landed five times pushed by his interest on the volcanic and
cratered island. He studied carefully the lava flows and theorized
about its formation. His first impression of the dry coast he saw was of
a deserted and isolated place. He did not find the tropical richness he
expected, instead he encountered desert plants, almost all-in flower,
and some reptiles that he pointed on his notes. In this island he had
the chance to collect the first specie that later on would be the base and
foundation of his Theory of Evolution, the San Cristobal
Mockingbird.
Floreana was the second island explored by the Beagle
expedition. Here Darwin had three days to collect species
and the second bird to lead him to important conclusions in
the future, the Floreana Mockingbird. He realized the
difference in between the previous specimen found in San
Cristobal, and started to pay more attention to this specie.
Later he would discover the four species to be found in the
archipelago and understand a pattern of evolution due to the
adaptation differences from each other according to the
environmental features of each island
 Isabela was the third island to arrive in his voyage on September
29th, 1835. The trip around the island and through the channel in
between Fernandina and Isabela was noted on his field book Darwin
described the island as the most deserted and volcanically active.
When sailing next to it, he observed the lava flows and the smoke
coming out from the craters. The Beagle decided to anchor in a
place named Tagus Cove because of the easy water bay this place
forms. Darwin disembarked on October 1st and explored the volcanic
terrain. Here he found the land of iguanas, both marine and
terrestrial that to him were ancient creatures that he describes more in
Santiago visit.
 After Isabela, the boat sailed around Pinta, Genovesa and
Marchena, offering Darwin the chance to admire the
different formations. Santiago was the last island were
Darwin disembarked on October 8th. This is the island
where Darwin stayed the longest, by this time, he knew
already that the islands were something bigger and more
important than they seemed when he first arrived. On his
visit he expends 2 weeks and walked the whole island with
some crew members that helped him carrying the specimens
he was collecting.
 Here he first noticed the difference in between the tortoises from
different islands with his own eyes; he was impressed by the
amount of tortoises, which had different shapes and sizes. He
wrote a big deal of characteristics of their behavior and also had
the chance to try their meat in soup. In this island Darwin noticed
that most species were similar but different from other in the other
islands, giving enough evidence to theorize that species change and
this is related to their feeding and surroundings. He collected
finches that helped him to understand this resolution. These animals
are now considered the world’s fastest evolving birds because of the
adaptations they rapidly developed to cope with their needs in such a
changing environment.
 Charles Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a
process he called “natural selection.” In natural selection, organisms
with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate
more descendants than organisms of the same species that lack the
variation, thus influencing the overall genetic makeup of the species.
Darwin, who was influenced by the work of French naturalist Jean-
Baptiste de Lamarck and the English economist Thomas Malthus, acquired
most of the evidence for his theory during a five-year surveying expedition
aboard the HMS Beagle in the 1830s. Visiting such diverse places as the
Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate
knowledge of the flora, fauna, and geology of many lands. This
information, along with his studies in variation and interbreeding after
returning to England, proved invaluable in the development of his theory
of organic evolution.
 Darwin had formulated his theory of natural selection by 1844, but
he was wary to reveal his thesis to the public because it so obviously
contradicted the biblical account of creation. In 1858, with Darwin
still remaining silent about his findings, the British naturalist Alfred
Russel Wallace independently published a paper that essentially
summarized his theory. Darwin and Wallace gave a joint lecture on
evolution before the Linnean Society of London in July 1858, and
Darwin prepared On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection for publication. Published on November 24, 1859, Origin
of Species sold out immediately. Most scientists quickly embraced
the theory that solved so many puzzles of biological science, but
orthodox Christians condemned the work as heresy.