Evolution

through
n a t u r a l evoution
Rexxer John & Raechel M a e
EVOLUTIO
N
Meriam-Webster defines evolution as the "the
process by which new species or populations of
living things develop from pre-existing forms
through succesive generations." Our planet's
biodiversity is huge and extensive, and evolution
is a major biological theory that was proposed
in order to explain how there seems to be
infinite variations for all the organisms on Earth.
h o w the
theory o f
evolution
i t s e l f involved
Humans have been trying to explain the origin of our
world since the beginning of time. some depicted below:

•Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have the the Genesis

story
• Hinduism has Brahma creating the universe form
itself
•The greeks with their tales about Gaea, the Titans, and
the Olympians
• Japan's Izanagi and Izanami
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved
Humans have been trying to explain the origin of our world since the
beginning of time. some depicted below:

• Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have the the Genesis story

• Hinduism has Brahma creating the universe form itself
• The greeks with their tales about Gaea, the Titans, and the
Olympians
• Japan's Izanagi and Izanami
h o w the
theory o f
evolution
i t s e l f involved
It was the Greeks who first wrote
down their ideas, with the
philosophers Anaximander and
Empedocles.
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved
French philosopher and biologist
Pierre-Louis Moreau de
Maupertuis had his theory of
origins, which propost
spontaneous generation (living
things developing from nonliving)
and extinction (the dying out of
species)
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved

Another Frenchman, naturalist

Georges-Louis Leclerc considered
but ultimately rejected the idea
of several species having a
common ancestor. H e believed
in the idea of spontaneous
generation from organic
molecules
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved

Charles Darwin own grandfather

Erasmus Darwin published his own
speculations on evolution in his
book Zoonomia.
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved

Carolous Linnaeus observed that

there was variation among species
and used this to create his
taxonomy, a classification system
we still use for organisms
h o w the t h e o r y
o f evolution
i t s e l f involved
The 18th century showed that scientific mindswere
examining and observing how organisms came to be, and
why there is variation. But these were just ideas, more
on origin; actual theories on evolution only came about
during the 19th century.
t h e t h e o r y o f inheritance o f
acquired c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
o f lamarckism
In 1801, French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de
Monet, chevalier de Lamarck presented his
theory on evolution: he proposed that organisms
evolve through time, from being lower forms to
higher beings.

Characteristics that are needed are used often

and thus will be passed on the next generations;
those disused will eventually be forgotten and
not passed. This was Lamarck's theory on
inheritance of acquired characteristics
t h e t h e o r y o f inheritance o f
acquired c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
o f lamarckism

H e used the following examples to prove his

theory:

•Elephant trunks- Lamarck believed elephants

used to have short trunks, since they could not
reach water nor food with these short trunks,
elephants then felt the need to stretch their
trunks. A s the longer trunks were needed for use,
this trait was then inherited by the next
generations.
t h e t h e o r y o f inheritance o f
acquired c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
o f lamarckism

H e used the following examples to prove his

theory:

•Human body parts- Lamarck also pointed out

that body parts that are no longer used or
needed are dissappearing, like the appendix.
Eventually, people will be born without these
body parts.
t h e t h e o r y o f inheritance o f
acquired c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
o f lamarckism

H e used the following examples to prove his

theory:

•Giraffe necks- Just like with elephants, he

believed giraffes had to stretch their originally
short neck in order to reach food. Then the next
generations inherited these long necks.
the t h e o r y o f evolution
by n a t u r a l selection
Charles Darwin, a 19th century English naturalist,
proposed in his book O n the Origin of Species
that organisms evolve through natural selection.
H e published his findings from his five-year
travel through the flora, fauna, and fossils he
observed in South America, Australia, and the
south of Africa. H e argued that organisms
change over time to adapt the environmental
changes, and that the physical and behavioral
traits that best ensure survival will be the ones
inherited by the next generation. The phrase
"survival of the fittest" best sums up natural
selection. Charles
 the t h e o r y o f evolution by
n a t u r a l selection

The theory of evolution relies on the idea interrelatedness of species. It also relies on the
premise that there should be genetic variation (differences in the genes) in the physical
characteristics of a species.

•Those in the population that barely adapt to their environment are less likely to survive and
reproduce, so the likelihood of these "weak" genes being passed down are low.
•Those in the population that have favorite traits - know how to survive, can adapt, know how
to find food, can avoid predators, and resist disease - are the ones most likely to survive,
reproduce, and thus pass on these strong genes to the next generation.

A s those with the favored traits live on, reproducing and surviving, the species will gradually
evolve over each succeeding generation.
Darwin s a w p a t t e r n s , and
provided these examples
t o s u p p o r t his t h e o r y :
•Fossil bones from large extinct animals in Argentina - Darwin
discovered the remainss of what seemed to be giant sloths, an
extinct horse, an extinct camel, and what seemed to be an
armadillo. H e had seen the modern counterparts of these fossils,
and these fossil findings helped develop his ideas on evolution.
•Galapagos Islands observation on finches- When his travels took
him to the islands of Ecuador, Darwin observed 13 species of
finches. H e included that one finch species was the original,
coming from South America. Different species emerged throughout
the next generations, accumulating and then retaining
advantageous traits that is a variation in the beaks of the finches
according to their diet. This process of one common ancestor
evolving to multiple forms in order to adapt to a diverse
environment and its sources is now called adaptive radiation
FILLING IN THE GASPS IN DARWIN'S
THEORY

Darwin's. theory of natural selection could not explain how

the variations in species came about originally, and how
they are transmitted to the next generations. It was only
when Gregor Mendel and his work on genetics in 1866
became more generally known in the 1900s that the gaps in
Darwin's theory were explained.
FILLING IN THE GASPS IN DARWIN'S
THEORY

Mendel's work on garden peas led him to conclude

that the traits of organisms come in pairs, and one
of these are inherited from either parent. H e also
discovered that some traits show up more often as
the genes for those are more dominant
G o Back to Agenda Page
w eis ma nn a nd t he g er m
pl a s m t h e o r y / n e o - d a r w i n i s m

German biologist August Weismann was a believer of

natural selection, and developed his own theory called the
Germ Plasm Theory.

H e coined the two terms germplasm and sematoplasm,

dividing body tissues into these two types. According to
Weissmann, germplasm are reproductive tissues or cells
that produce gametes. Somatoplasm are the other cells in
the body that are not related to sexual production. H e thus
concluded that it is only through germplasm that
reproduction and the transmission of traits (including any
variation) from one generation to the next happen.

His ideas were also later known as neo-Darwinism

theory o f evolution
by
mutation/mutationism
Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries came up with his own theory
after Mendelian genetics was rediscovered in the 1900s.
de Vries' mutationism opposed natural selection, as
according to him, new species spring up from spontaneous
gene alternations in the defining traits of organisms. H e
was the one who first coined the term mutations.

Due to the sudden occurrence of there mutations, the

variety of changes that happen in each generation
are random.
combining genetics and
darw in: t h e s y n t h e t i c t h e o r y
o f evolution

In 1938, Ukrainian-American naturalist Theodosius

Dobzhansky published his book Genetics and the Origin of
Species.

Dobzhansky, along with other scientist like Ernst Mayr,

Julian Huxley, George Gaylord Simpson, and George
Ledyard Stebbins, combined the principles of genetics
with Darwin's natural selection.

This unification later became known as the synthetic

theory of evolution.
D i ff e r en t t y p e s o f e v o l u t i o n
1.C O N V E R G E N T E V O L U T I O N - Different organisms independently
evolve similar traits. An example of this is that sharks (fish) and
dolphins (mamals) are different from one another and yet both have
the streamlined body needed for swimming and living in water.

2.D I V E R G E N T E V O L U T I O N - Closely related organisms developing

dissimilar traits. An example are the Galapagos finches discussed in
the previous pages.

3.P A R A L L E L E V O L U T I O N - When species that share a common

ancestor but marsupials in Australia and placental mammals (animals
that have placentas where embryos grow) in other parts of the world
evolved independently but paralleled each other.
That's a l l
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for
listening