Evolution and Adaptation • So … all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, and

the more recently

• Evolution:

.
.

• This means life is a -- from the

• The theory earliest organisms to the great diversity of today.
.
• Even these very different organisms are related via
.

• The ‘Tree of Life’ connects and .

• Draw a tree of life that best represents the • Draw a tree of life that best represents the
relationships between these organisms. relationships between these organisms.

• If you’ve never studied evolution before these is a big • The colonization of land occurred about
.
idea, so let’s start at the beginning …
. • Land plants by 415 mya.
• Insects by 310 mya.
• The oldest fossils found to date are in rocks from
Australia that are . • Reptiles (300 mya)
• Mammals (214 mya)
• Only bacteria from about .
• Primates (60 mya)
• Multicellular organisms from . • Hominids (5.5 mya)
• (0.5 mya)

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• Today, the diversity of life is amazing. Over • Most biologists divide all of the Earth’s species into
have been described. five major groups, known as :
• Total number might be closer !

• Each of these kingdoms are then subdivided into

• Modern biologists categorize these species while more and more specific categories:
trying to reflect .
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
• Historically, biologists compared
. • is the most inclusive category.

• Today, biologists compare .

• is the branch of biology that names

• Categorizing organisms from Kingdom to Species
and classifies species into a hierarchical order.
can be repeated for every organism on the planet.
• Implies that life is a continuum and all species
...
• This “dangerous idea” goes against the notion that
species were .
• Humans are .
• First suggested by

• Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was born in western • The origin of the fauna of the especially
England. puzzled Darwin.
• It seemed to Darwin that the islands had been
colonized by animals from the mainland and
• Initially, Darwin studied
they had then on
• Then made he a halfhearted intent at becoming a the islands.
.
• After graduation, joined Captain FitzRoy on
.

• Darwin came of age on the voyage.

2
• Darwin eventually concluded that new species could • His ideas were influenced by a variety of sources
arise by the gradual accumulation of such as his farmer’s knowledge of
. .

• Species to fit their

• Geological gradualism -- profound change results
environment.
from slow, continuous processes.
p
• Two separated populations
p p of the same species
p
• The
Th earth
th was .
could become so dissimilar as to be
.
• Taxonomy: the grouping of
.

• Paleontology: .

• In 1844, he wrote a long essay on the origin of

• Also, particularly important was species, but he was .

. • In 1858, sent Darwin outlining

the theory of natural selection.
• Darwin quickly finished and
published it the next year.

• The uproar was immediate.

Natural selection: the mechanism

• Central to Darwin’s view of the evolution of life is
. • Natural selection can be summarized in six points:
• All present day organisms are related through • #1:
descent from .
. • Maximal reproductive effort is the norm
e g Salmon =
e.g.
Redwood =
Humans =

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 • #2: Environmental resources . • #5: Those individuals that best fit their environment
are likely to leave more offspring than
.
• #3: Production of more individuals than the
environment can support leads to a
#6: This unequal ability of individuals to survive and
. reproduce will lead to a gradual change in a
population,
.
• #4: The differences in survival is influenced by this
.
!.

• Even closely related species like the polar bear and • The individuals that contribute the most to the gene
the grizzly bear, which diverged from a common pool are the most fit.
ancestor only
. • Fitness:

• Adaptation:
. .

But… • Darwin’s vision -- the diversity of life is a result of

gradual accumulation of changes through the
actions of natural selection operating over vast
spans of time.
• Was Darwin wrong? ---
• The evidence for evolution is .

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/index.html

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• By attributing the diversity of life to natural
causes rather than to supernatural creation,
Darwin gave biology a sound, scientific basis.
• Many religious fundamentalists (of all stripes)
take alarm at the thought of
.
• How much can personal views deviate from the idea
that life gradually evolved from
?
• Can a scientist be religious or spiritual or an
?

• For example, in 2001,

agreed that “God created human beings
in their present form within the past 10,000 years.
• Yet the supporting evidence for Darwin’s ideas is
so abundant ---
.

Evidence of evolution • The evolution of resistance in insects to insecticides

is a recent example of natural selection in action and
• Evidence that the diversity of life is a product of results in farmers getting on a
evolution pervades every research field of .
biology.
• • The same principle applies in drug resistance.
• New “ ” are consequence of natural
selection to environment containing powerful
• antibiotics.

• Species: A group of organisms with similar anatomical

• The genetic code is . characteristics and the ability to and
• This is the reason are possible. produce .
• Variation hints at .
• Hybrids may be .

5
• Flurries of allopatric speciation events can • Adaptive radiation:
occur on . .
• in the
Hawaiian Archipelago
• Florida Keys lack indigenous species because
theyy are too close to the mainland
.
• Mammals .

34.8: Humanity •Human evolution did not lead directly from an

ancestral hominoid to Homo sapiens.
• Humanity is a very young twig on the vertebrate tree.
•Many splinter groups traveled down dead ends and
• Humans and apes have shared .
.
•Our species is the only .
• Except for the last .

• Our ancestors were not chimpanzees or any other

modern apes.
• Chimpanzees and humans represent two
divergent branches of the
.

1)
• Tree dwellers .
• 20 mya: the climate became drier and .
.
• Lead to .
2)
• Diverged
g from a common hominoid ancestor
.
• What are the big differences between us and .
chimps?

6
 4) Reduced Size Differences Between the Sexes.
3)
. • Male gorillas and orangutans are
.
• There were also changes in dentition.
• Male chimps are about
.
• In humans, males average about
.
• Reduced sexual size dimorphism suggests that
monogamy is perhaps more common in
.

• All known hominid fossils older than 1.5 mya • The pre-Homo hominids are in the genus
. .
• Most consist of . • The first australopithecine discovered in 1924 in
a quarry in South Africa.
•
.
•
.

• In 1974, a new Australopithecus fossil, about 40% • The earliest fossils that anthropologists place in our
complete, was discovered in Ethiopia. genus, Homo, are classified as .
• • Fossils range in age from
. .
• Pelvis and skull bones and fossil tracks showed • .
that she . • .
• Today, the oldest fossil that is more human than ape
is .

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• A remarkably complete fossil of a hominid known as “ • Homo erectus was the first hominid species to
” indicates that larger brains had migrate out of Africa, .
evolved by 1.6 mya.
• Taller, larger brain, humanlike
• Brain size over 900 cm3 in an adult, a size .
between that of .
• .
• .
• In Europe, H. erectus gave rise to the
.

• have been
• The term Neanderthal is now used for Homo who
proposed for the origin of modern humans.
lived in Europe from .
1) Multiregional hypothesis: fully modern humans
• Brains as . evolved .
• More . • The genetic similarity of all modern people the
product of .
• Contributed nothing to

2) The , • Both hypotheses recognize the fossil evidence for

argues that all Homo sapiens evolved from a second humanity’s origin .
migration out of Africa . • Genetic data have supported the
• This migration replaced (killed) all the regional .
populations of Homo.
• suggests a time of
genetic divergence of about 100,000 years ago –
Mitochondrial ‘Eve’.
• mtDNA extracted from
falls completely outside the range for
modern Europeans.
• .

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• Comparisons of Y chromosomes also provide
important genetic data.
• Passed from male to male through the
generations without
.
• The diversity is therefore largely limited to
.
• Researchers were able to infer divergence from a