EVOLUTION (Biol.

402)

Origin of species: What is life, and how it is evolved

In general, how life is originated is the most difficult and controversial theory of mankind.

Creationist theory

Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and
humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. God created the world, with a
purpose known to Him and God established natural laws that govern the world.

Creationist theory was dominating the origin of life both before AD and recent BC. AD stands
for Anno Domini, which is Latin for "Year of our Lord," and is used to number years in the
Julian and Gregorian calendars. AD denotes the calendar era after the birth of Jesus Christ. The
traditionally accepted year of Christ's birth is labeled AD 1 and the year before is 1 BC. The 1st
century was the century spanning AD 1 (I) through AD 100 (C) according to the Julian calendar.
Man’s attitude toward nature was governed by God’s command to be as it is in Genesis 1:28 “to
be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the
sea and over the birds of the air, and over everything that moves upon the earth”.

Evolutionary theory

Evolution is the theory that groups of organisms change with the passage of time, causing their
descendants from their ancestors. In other words, evolution is the change in the characteristics of
a species over several generations and relies on the process of natural selection. This process is
dependent on the need of organisms to compete for the things which are essential to them
individually to survive and reproduce. It is a continuing process that has been going on for
millions of years, rather than a finished event, although there is some debate over the degree to
which human beings are evolving now.

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Origin of life: What is life, and how it is evolved

The planet earth came into existence sometime between 4 and 5 billion years ago, while life is
evolved on planet earth about 3.5 billion years. The earth’s evolution was shaped by heat and
gravity, plate tectonics shifting the continents, raising mountains, and move the ocean floor, and
volcanic eruptions bringing the contents of the mantle to the surface, etc. Later, the emergence of
life joined these forces. The earth has been continuously changing since its beginning.

Life is a living thing, which is cellular. In other words, it is either a single-celled creature or a
creature composed of many cells. Every cell is bounded by its own outer membrane and contains
a full set of instructions necessary for its operation and reproduction. Life is composed of three
major biological macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life (Protein, DNA
and RNA). DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) is a molecule that carries genetic instructions while
RNA (Ribonucleic acid) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding,
decoding, regulation and expression of genes.

Living things reproduce themselves. Either individually or in sexual pairs, they have both
the encoded instructions and the machinery necessary for self-reproduction.
Life uses processes collectively called metabolism to convert materials and energy for its
needs.
Life undergoes evolution.

Origin of life means the appearance of simplest primordial life from nonliving matter. From
several theories of origin of life, widely accepted theory is the Chemosynthetic theory which
proposed by Oparin and Haldane and experimentally supported by Stanley Miner and H.C. Urey.
Ivanovich Oparin, a Russian biochemist, pioneered in developing theories of the origin of life.
In 1922, he proposed that primitive organisms could have arisen from preexisting organic
compounds which developed from simpler compounds. Thus, he extended the theory of
evolution to the origin of life. He further proposed that the earliest organisms were
heterotrophic, and obtained their nutrients from external sources. His theories met with wide
opposition, which he answered with results from painstaking laboratory experiments. His work
was published under the title of a book “The Origin of Life on Earth” in Russian, in 1936. The
English translation came out in 1953. He assumed an atmosphere lacking in oxygen, but rich in

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the original gases of the solar system, methane, ammonia, and hydrogen. By 1964, many
workers were involved in the field that J.B.S. Haldane said “Some of us, or the next generation,
will try to make a living organism.”

Chemosynthetic Theory predicts that Life might have originated at first on earth through a series
of combinations of chemical substances in the distant past and it all happened in water. The early
atmosphere contained ammonia (NH3), water vapour (H2O), hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4).
At that time there was no free oxygen. Origin of life is associated with the formation of a simple
Cell. Biological cells generally have three features:

• A stable and semi-permeable membrane which encapsulates cell components

• Genetic material which can be passed on in cell formation and which controls cellular
behavior and function
• Energy generation via metabolic pathways which enables growth, self-maintenance, and
reproduction

According to Chemosynthetic theory Life is expected to originated step by step,

1) There were an initial hot gases and vapours of various chemicals.
2) Gradually it cooled down and a solid crust was formed.
3) The early atmosphere contained ammonia (NH3), water vapour (H2O), hydrogen
(H2), methane (CH4). At that time there was no free oxygen.

Such compounds were formed from the reaction of atoms

 2H + O → H2O (water)
 3H+ N → NH3 (ammonia)
 4H + C → CH4 (methane)
4) Methane and ammonia from the atmosphere dissolved in the water of the seas.
5) In this water, chemical reactions occurred and gave rise to amino acids, nitrogenous
bases, sugars and fatty acids which further reacted and combined to give rise to
biomolecules of life such as proteins and nucleic acids. The sources of energy were the
ultraviolet rays or electric discharge (lightening) or heat. Either alone or a combination of
these energy sources caused reactions that produced complex organic compounds

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 (including amino acids) from a mixture of ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), water (H2O)
and hydrogen (H2). The amino acids are the building blocks of proteins which are the
main components of protoplasm.
Next stage is formation of simple organic molecules combined to form large molecules which
included peptides (leading to the formation of proteins), sugars, starch and fat molecules. Then
after, the large molecules of different kinds combined together to form multi-molecular heaps or
complexes. Some simple fat molecules arranged themselves around this molecular complex in a
sort of membrane. It was observed in the laboratory experiments that when such complexes
reached a certain size they separated from the surrounding solution in the form of what were
termed “coacervate drops” of microscopic size, moving in the liquid with a definite boundary
(coacervate means “heap” referring to the combining together of the molecules).

The next step is the formation of simple life. Some sort of nucleoproteins or nucleic acids may
have evolved by random combinations which have provided two more properties to coacervate–
like bodies. These include: (i) chemical reactions from the nucleic acids, and (ii) the capacity to
reproduce through duplication of the nucleic acids. Thus, cells were produced that could be
called the simplest primordial life. The primitive “drop”–like forms of life were all heterotrophs,
unable to manufacture their own food but derived it from environment. One of the innumerable
changes in genetic makeup of the primitive heterotrophs led to the formation of chlorophyll
(green coloring matter of the leaves) molecules.

Primitive organisms began to synthesize organic compounds abundantly present in the sea from
inorganic molecules. The anaerobic breakdown of chemicals due to the absence of chlorophyll
has provided the energy needed for the synthesis of organic food.

 Therefore, they were chemoautotrophs, such as nitrifying bacteria, sulphur bacteria,

iron bacteria, etc.

 6CO2 + 12H2S → C6H12O6 + 6H2O +12S

Later, a green substance from the sea’s magnesium porphyrin called bacteriochlorophyll was
formed by some autotrophic prokaryotes and photosynthesis began.

 This led to the creation of photoautotrophs, such as today’s marine planktonic

bacteria.

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  As they did not use water to photosynthesize, they were anoxygenic.

 6CO2+ 12H2S → solar energy C6H12O6 + 6H2O + 12 Bacteriochlorophyll

 At that duration, bacteria chlorophyll went through molecular changes to form true
chlorophyll and hence, true photoautotrophs were evolved.

 These phototrophs synthesized their food by photosynthesis utilizing water as raw

material.

 Cyanobacteria were the first oxygenic and aerobic photoautotrophs that evolved
about 2700 million years ago.

 6CO2+ 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Origin of eukaryotes:
 True photosynthetic prokaryotes have shifted to aerobic respiration.

 Then cyano bacteria developed a true nucleus like prokaryotes and transformed into
eukaryotes.

 It were like today’s unicellular species.

 Multicellular species have evolved from unicellular organisms via the colonization
process.

 A stable and semi-permeable membrane which encapsulates cell components

 Genetic material which can be passed on in cell formation and which controls cellular
behavior and function
 Energy generation via metabolic pathways which enables growth, self-maintenance, and
reproduction

1. A Biotic Synthesis

Abiotic synthesis refers to the creation of organic molecules from non-life. A first step in a-
biotic synthesis is the formation of molecules known as amino acids from simpler molecules.
The sources of energy were the ultraviolet rays or electric discharge (lightening) or heat. Either
alone or a combination of these energy sources caused reactions that produced complex organic
compounds (including amino acids) from a mixture of ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), water

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(H2O) and hydrogen (H2). The amino acids are the building blocks of proteins which are the
main components of protoplasm.

Miller and Urey demonstrate an experiment which revealed the formation of amino acid and
purines (a component of DNA) from simpler molecules in the lab for the first time in 1956. An
electrical discharge, to simulate lightening, was passed through a mixture of 'atmospheric gases',
in a glass chamber in order to investigate which molecules might be generated by this process.

2. Pre-biotic Synthesis

Pre-biotic SynthesisAny plausible pathway by which the molecular precursors of life (amino
acids, bases and ribose phosphates) may have been formed in the early Earth. The next stage in
complexity, in the construction of more complex molecules, amino acid to protein and formation
Nucleic Acids. Proteins form long, chain-like molecules called polymers, and are made up from
amino acids. The two nuclei acids DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) are
key for the origin of life as are needed for self-replication, key component of life. DNA and
RNA are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-
carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. Nucleic acids serve as the primary
information-carrying molecules in cells and make up the genetic material.

Formation of cell may start with a protocell (protobiont) which is a self-organized, endogenously
ordered, spherical collection of lipids proposed as a stepping-stone toward the origin of life. A
protocell can carry on metabolism but cannot reproduce while a true cell main form of cell
division is reproduction. Formation of cell membrane which fulfills the essential function of
creating an internal environment within which genetic materials can reside and metabolic
activities can take place without being lost to the environment. Formation of protocells;
concentrations of organic molecules and polymers that carry out metabolic reactions within an
enclosed system, separated from the environment by a semi-permeable membrane, such as a
lipid bilayer membrane. Cell membranes are mostly made up of phospholipids, which are
composed of simple molecules including fatty acids, isoprenoids and sugars. Phospholipids are
only produced by living organisms. But fatty acids can be formed in the environment through
reactions between rocks and water, and isoprenoids or similar molecules may also be produced
this way.

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Cells are of two basic types. There are cells without a nucleus, these are the most primitive type
of cell and are called prokaryotes. Cell with a nucleus, the cells of plant and animals, are called
eukaryotes.

3. Energy for Sustaining Unicellular Life and cell replication

Once a living cell has evolved the final stage in its survival is the ability to sustain itself and
replicating itself. Nowadays many organisms require light energy to sustain them. This
mechanism is known as phototrophy and includes the process of photosynthesis. Alternatively,
and maybe more primitive is chemotrophy 'Systems of metabolism in which energy is derived
from endogenous chemical reactions rather than from food or light-energy, e.g. in deep-sea hot-
spring organisms.

Origin of life (abiogenesis) is the appearance of simplest primordial life from nonliving matter,
which is a study which determines how pre-life chemical reactions gave rise to life. The origin of
life also defined as the emergence of heritable and evolvable self-reproduction.

Some workers have suggested genetic systems which are transitional between the most primitive
systems and the present elaborate ones (Woese, 1967). Perhaps some early nucleic acid genes
evolved into tRNA. The early code may have been much less specific than the present, with a
codon specifying a class of a few similar amino acids. The evolution of the genetic code into its
present form may have been influenced by some original relationship between primitive nucleic
acid molecules and amino acids, perhaps a stereochemical one, which does not exist in the
modern systems. Or it may have arisen by chance in so far as its particular order is concerned.
That genetic code is now ‘frozen’, protected against further change, since any mutational change
in the code would affect all the proteins in the mutant. The chance of such a change producing a
viable organism would be effectively zero.

Prokaryotic and unicellular eukaryotes share a common genetic code. Precursor forms with
primitive nucleic acid genes and primitive codes must have existed, and they were undoubtedly
living beings, which we call protocells. We can infer some things about them. Their properties

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must have varied through time, and there may have been quite diverse arrays of protocells at
times.

Tree of life
Tree of life had split into the three main trunks (Arachaea, Bacteria and Eukaryotes), evolution
was able to fuse together its distant branchs. As a result of fusions, animals, plants and algae
were produced. All eukaryotes have mitochondria which is using oxygen and other chemicals
creating energy for our cells. Plants have chloroplasts in their cells for photosynthesis. Both
mitochondria and chloroplasts resemble bacteria. Both have their own genes, and use their own
DNA to synthesize their own proteins. When they duplicate themselves, they make extracopies
of their DNA, just as bacteria do. It was found out later (1970s) that chloroplast DNA is a
cyanobacteria DNA. Mitochondria was found to be closely related to the typhus causing bacteria,
Richettsia prowazekii. According to some workers, perhaps the proto mitochondria was a free
living, oxygen breathing organism living around eukaryotes to feed on their wastes. Later, they
entered the eukaryotic cells, merged with them, and the exchange continued in the eukaryotic
cell.
The oldest eukaryotes must have evolved by 2.7 billion years ago. For a billion years, eukaryotes
were microscopic. By 1.8 billion years ago, multicellular fossils occur. By 1.2 billion years ago,
we know red algae, the oldest multicellular organisms, have lived.

The Ediacaran fauna, (perhaps some of them ancestral to other animals) evolved by 600 to 540
million years ago during the Ediacaran period. By 550 million years ago, burrows and tracks of
animals that could dig and crawl is found. This shows the beginning of the Triploblasts. Fossils
of the embryos of Triploblasts were discovered in China. The majority of the Ediacarans are
primitive animals like jellyfish for example, that are diploblasts. They have only two body layers
in their embryos. By 550 million years ago, the burrows and tracks of animals that we find can
only be made by muscular animals, which are triploblasts since animals which are diploblasts
lack such a structure.

The Cambrian explosion took 10 million years. It happened completely under water. Then,
multicellular organisms came on land. First came green algae that built water proof coats.
Centipedes and other invertebrates began living on land. Vertebrates acquired so many parts such

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as eyes, spinal cord, complex brains, skeleton, etc. and became powerful swimmers and hunters.
New plant species that hold themselves upright evolved, and by 360 million years ago, trees
growing up to some 20 meters were there. Overwhelmingly, most of the evolution of life
occurred under water. Actually, it is only 450 million years ago that diversity of life began on
land.

All organisms were placed in five kingdoms by Whittaker (1969) and Whittaker and Margulis
(1978) have a common lineage ,and can be traced. These kingdoms are:-

1. Monera – including all prokaryotes, i.e., bacteria, cyanobacteria and green prokaryotic
algae.
2. Protoctista - Protozoans, nucleated algae and slime moulds.
3. Fungi – organisms which can not make their own food but which must
live as parasites, saprophytes or symbionts (lichens).

4. Plantae – All eukaryotic plants.

5. Animalia – Sponges (Parazoans) and multi-cellular heterotrophs
(Metazoans).

History of evolution
Evolutionary which is the recognition that species change over time and the perceived
understanding of how such processes work, is a very recent science which get focus from mid-
17th century.

Aristotle
Aristotle (384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in
Ancient Greece. Aristotle is the first thinker in history to identify these extremely wide-ranging
coextensive relationships among biological processes and systems of organs. Aristotle stated
that, for example, aphids arise from dew on plants, flies from putrid matter, mice from dirty hay,
and crocodiles from rotting sunken logs. The basic idea was that life was continuously created as
a result of chance events.

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Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225 –1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest, who was an immensely
influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. Thomas is known
for his theory of Natural theology. Natural theology is generally characterized as the attempt to
establish religious truths by rational argument and without reliance upon alleged
revelations.Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us.
"Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists", of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is
the same as the subject. Thomists define the soul as the substantial form of living beings. Thus,
plants have "vegetative souls," animals have "sensitive souls, while human beings alone have
"intellectual" – rational and immortal – souls. Thomas Aquinas holds that the existence of God
can be demonstrated by reason. Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle—
whom he called "the Philosopher"—and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the
principles of Christianity.

Natural theology opened the way to advance in biological study, but this was not effective until
the 17th century. During renaissance, new interest developed in natural history and Anatomy,
both as branches of medicine.

Carolus Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778 AD) classified organisms following a binomial system of

nomenclature, giving each species a specific and generic name e.g. Homo sapiens (Genus
species). Although his classification was largely based on morphology, Linnaeus recognized a
fundamental difference between organisms that could interbreed (within a species) and those that
could not (different species).

His classification system departed from the chain of being and reflected a nested series of
relationships. The modernized Linnaean system groups organisms into: Kingdom, Phylum,
Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Humans are classified as: Kingdom Animalia, Phylum

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Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Primates, Family Hominidae, Genus Homo, Species Homo
sapiens.

Linnaeus believed in a balance of nature, within which each species had its place. Since this
balance was thought to reflect a divine plan, Linnaeus originally believed that species would
neither change nor go extinct. Linnaeus later recognized that new species may occasionally arise,
particularly through hybridization. One of Linnaeus' students first described a new species
formed by hybridization in toadflax.

Georges-Louis Leclerc

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788 AD) believed that the origin of life and
species followed a material process, and looked to the physical and biological world for clues to
this process. In 1766, Buffon argued that the relationships among species in the Linnaean system
of classification reflected common descent ("degénération"), with divergence over time.

Buffon placed great emphasis on the physical environment, which was thought to direct
(somehow) the organic changes leading to a new species. The speciation process was thus caused
by individual migration to new geographical locations, wherein the environment would cause
changes to the organic particles.

Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was a leading philosopher, naturalist, and physician in 18th
century Britain, who wrote one of the first treatises on evolution: Zoonomia: Or The Laws of
Organic Life (1794-1796). He was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (Lamarck: 1744 –1829), was the
first person to notice that the environment plays a role in the development of an organism and suggest
that organisms change over time (an idea we often attribute to Darwin). Lamarck is credited with

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making the first large advance toward modern evolutionary theory because he was the first to
propose a mechanism by which the gradual change of species might take place. Lamarck's
contribution to evolutionary theory consisted of the first truly cohesive theory of biological
evolution.

Lamarck recognized several ways in which the environment brings about changes in plants and
animals, and it is significant to note that his attention was directed more particularly to the adaptive
character of the response. He proposed that an animal can change the shape and ability of its body to do
better in its environment. Lamarck called traits that can change during an organism's lifetime acquired
characteristics (or "acquired characters"). He also proposed that acquired characteristics can be passed
on to offspring, an idea he called inheritance of acquired characteristics. Acquired characteristic as one
that has developed in the course of the life of an individual in the somatic or body cells, usually as a
direct response to some external change in the environment or through the use or disuse of a part. The
inheritance of such a characteristic means its reappearance in one or more individuals in the next or in
succeeding generations.

The second part of Lamarck's mechanism for evolution involved the inheritance of acquired
traits. He believed that traits changed or acquired over an individual's lifetime could be passed
down to its offspring. Giraffes that had acquired long necks would have offspring with long
necks rather than the short necks their parents were born with. This type of inheritance,
sometimes called Lamarckian inheritance, has since been disproved by the discovery of
hereditary genetics.

Lamarckism in general is, a theory of evolution based on the principle that physical changes in
organisms during their lifetime—such as greater development of an organ or a part through
increased use—could be transmitted to their offspring.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was a French professional naturalist, who also developed a
theory of transformism. Lamarck believed in organic progression, whereby organisms would
evolve through a hierarchy of more and more advanced forms. At the base of this hierarchy,
"simple" organisms were constantly arising via spontaneous generation. The mechanism by
which organisms advanced and adapted to changing circumstances was described in
Lamarck's Philosophie zoologique (1809):

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Lamarck's "First Law": The use or disuse of a structure would lead to its development or
diminishment.

Lamarck's "Second Law": Such acquired characters could be passed to offspring (heritable).

August Weismann

Prof August Friedrich Leopold Weismann (1834 – 1914) came with a germ plasm theory which
document inheritance (in a multicellular organism) only takes place by means of the germ
cells—the gametes such as egg cells and sperm cells. Other cells of the body—somatic cells—do
not function as agents of heredity in contrary of the theory of Lamarck. August Weismann’s
challenge of the entire theory of the transmission of acquired characteristics marks a turning
point from the older credulous attitude to the modern demand for more critical evidence. For
example, Weismann cut off the tails of mice for many consecutive generations without creating a
tailless type. This, he felt, was evidence against the theory of inheritance of acquired
characteristics.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English naturalist, a prolific writer, and a gentleman of
private means that allowed him to focus on his life's work: the development of the theory of
evolution by means of natural selection. His voyage took him around the tip of South America to
New Zealand and Tasmania.

Charles Darwin made the greatest intellectual revolution of all time in biology. He is a born
naturalist who loved to collect, fish, hunt, and read nature books. Crucial in Charles Darwin’s
life was his participation in the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle at the age of 22, on December 27,
1831. The person who boarded the ship, the potential priest Charles Darwin, returned back to be
a materialistic scientist who shook the base of biological thought of the time for good.

Darwin explained the mechanism of evolution through his theory of natural selection. He is still
regarded as ‘the father of evolution’ because of two very significant contributions. He suggested

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(i) that all kind of organisms are related through ancestry and (ii) he suggested a mechanism for
evolution and named it natural selection.
According to Darwin, organisms produce more offspring than can survive. Because
environmental resources are limited there ensues struggle for existence. Organisms with
advantageous variations are protected and allowed to reproduce while the disadvantageous
variants are eliminated from nature. This is what was termed natural selection by Darwin.
According to Darwin when the environment changes, new adaptations get selected in nature
and after many generations sufficient characteristics will have been changed so as to alter the
species into a new one (origin of species).

Darwin talked about variation but did not know about the sources of variation. With progress in
genetics the sources of variation were discovered and Darwin’s original theory of Natural
Selection modified. This new theory was termed Neo-Darwinism or Modern Synthetic Theory.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution states that evolution happens by natural selection. The
theory of natural selection was proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in their
common publication. Both of them conducted scientific data collection from individual
population survey. Charles Darwin travelled for 5yrs expedition around the world on the ship
H.M.S Beagle. During this journey, he made observation of several animals and plants. He
keenly observed the similarities among organisms and draw evolutionary relationship. In
addition, economist Thomas Malthus’s report on workers recognized that competition between
species leads to the struggle for existence. Considering Wallace’s view and Malthus observations
of workers led Charles Darwin to propose the theory of natural selection in his book “Origin of
Species”. The theory of natural selection is based on following points:

Darwin’s theory of evolution entails the following fundamental ideas. He reasoned that
variations must occur in nature that is favorable or useful in some way to the organism in its
struggle for existence. Favorable variations are ones that increase chances for survival and
procreation. Those advantageous variations are preserved and multiplied from generation to
generation at the expense of less advantageous ones. The outcome of the process is an organism
that is well adapted to its environment.

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Darwin theory simply implies, natural selection is the is a process whereby organisms best suited
to their environment become the ones most likely to survive and leave descendants. It is also
often referred to as "survival of the fittest", which conjures up images of the biggest, strongest
individuals being the most successful, but in a biological sense, evolutionary fitness refers to the
ability to reproduce in a particular environment as well as survive. Therefore organisms may be
the "fittest" because they co-operate with other organisms, rather than competing with them.. He
also provided thoughtful explanations of the consequences of evolution for our understanding of
the history of life and modern biological diversity.

• Species (populations of interbreeding organisms) change over time and space. The
representatives of species living today differ from those that lived in the recent past, and
populations in different geographic regions today differ slightly in form or
behavior. These differences extend into the fossil record, which provides ample support
for this claim.

• All organisms share common ancestors with other organisms. Over time, populations
may divide into different species, which share a common ancestral population. Far
enough back in time, any pair of organisms shares a common ancestor. For example,
humans shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees about eight million years ago, with
whales about 60 million years ago, and with kangaroos over 100 million years
ago. Shared ancestry explains the similarities of organisms that are classified together:
their similarities reflect the inheritance of traits from a common ancestor.

• Evolutionary change is gradual and slow in Darwin’s view. This claim was supported by
the long episodes of gradual change in organisms in the fossil record and the fact that no
naturalist had observed the sudden appearance of a new species in Darwin’s time. Since
then, biologists and paleontologists have documented a broad spectrum of slow to rapid
rates of evolutionary change within lineages.

The primary mechanism of change over time is natural selection, elaborated below. This
mechanism causes changes in the properties (traits) of organisms within lineages from generation
to generation.

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Darwin discussed a compound theory of evolution, which some thought that it mainly consisted
of five sub-theories (Mayr, 1991): -

1. Evolution as such. This is the theory that the world is not constant nor recently created
nor perpetually cycling but rather is steadily changing and that organisms are transformed
in time.
2. Common Descent. This is the theory that every group of organisms descended from a
common ancestor and that all groups of organisms, including animals, plants, and
microorganisms, ultimately go back to a single origin of life on earth.
3. Multiplication of Species. This theory explains the origin of the enormous organic
diversity. It postulates that species multiply, either by splitting into daughter species or by
“budding,” that is, by the establishment of geographically isolated founder populations
that evolve into new species.
4. Gradualism. According to this theory, evolutionary change takes place through the
gradual change of populations and not by the sudden (saltational) production of new
individuals that represent a new type.
5. Natural Selection. According to this theory, evolutionary change comes about through the
abundant production of genetic variation in every generation. The relatively few
individuals who survive, owing to a particular well-adapted combination of inheritable
characters, give rise to the next generation.” (Mayr, 1991).

With in 23 years after the Origin of life, Darwin wrote several books on issues including,

1) variation of animals and plants Under Domestication (1868),

2) The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871),
3) The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872),
4) Insectivorous Plants (1875),
5) The Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom (1876),
6) The different Forms of Flowers On Plants of the Same Species (1877),
7) The Power of Movement in Plants (1880)

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Darwin’s process of natural selection has four components.

1. Variation. Organisms (within populations) exhibit individual variation in appearance and

behavior. These variations may involve body size, hair color, facial markings, voice
properties, or number of offspring. On the other hand, some traits show little to no variation
among individuals—for example, number of eyes in vertebrates.
2. Inheritance. Some traits are consistently passed on from parent to offspring. Such traits are
heritable, whereas other traits are strongly influenced by environmental conditions and show
weak heritability.
3. High rate of population growth. Most populations have more offspring each year than local
resources can support leading to a struggle for resources. Each generation experiences
substantial mortality.
4. Differential survival and reproduction. Individuals possessing traits well suited for the
struggle for local resources will contribute more offspring to the next generation.

Example

There is variation in traits.

For example, some beetles are green and some are brown.

There is differential reproduction.

Since the environment can’t support unlimited population growth, not all individuals get to
reproduce to their full potential. In this example, green beetles tend to get eaten by birds and
survive to reproduce less often than brown beetles do.

There is heredity.
The surviving beetles (more of which are brown) have offspring of the same color because this
trait has a genetic basis

End result:

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The more advantageous trait, brown coloration, which allows the beetle to have more offspring,
becomes more common in the population. If this process continues, eventually, all individuals in
the population will be brown.

In order for natural selection to operate on a trait, the trait must possess heritable variation and
must confer an advantage in the competition for resources. If one of these requirements does not
occur, then the trait does not experience natural selection.

Natural selection operates by comparative advantage, not an absolute standard of design. “…as
natural selection acts by competition for resources, it adapts the inhabitants of each country only
in relation to the degree of perfection of their associates” (Charles Darwin, On the Origin of
Species, 1859).

Darwin found that nearby islands in the Galápagos had similar but nonidentical species of
finches living on them. Moreover, he noted that each finch species was well-suited for its
environment and role. For instance, species that ate large seeds tended to have large, tough
beaks, while those that ate insects had thin, sharp beaks. Finally, he observed that the finches
(and other animals) found on the Galápagos Islands were similar to species on the nearby
mainland of Ecuador, but different from those found elsewhere in the world.

According to Darwin's idea, this pattern would make sense if the Galápagos Islands had long ago
been populated by birds from the neighboring mainland. On each island, the finches might have
gradually adapted to local conditions (over many generations and long periods of time). This
process could have led to the formation of one or more distinct species on each island.

Another good example of natural selection is Industrial melanism which is a phenomenon that
affected over 70 species of moths in England. It has been best studied in the peppered
moth, Biston betularia. Prior to 1800, the typical moth of the species had a light pattern. Dark
colored or melanic moths were rare and were therefore collectors' items.

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During the Industrial Revolution, soot and other industrial wastes darkened tree trunks and killed
off lichens. The light-colored morph of the moth became rare and the dark morph became
abundant. In 1819, the first melanic morph was seen; by 1886, it was far more common --
illustrating rapid evolutionary change.

Eventually light morphs were common in only a few locales, far from industrial areas. The cause
of this change was thought to be selective predation by birds, which favored camouflage
coloration in the moth.

This process of natural selection resulting in evolution can be easily demonstrated over a 24 hour
period in a laboratory Petri dish of bacteria living in a nutrient medium. When a lethal dose of
antibiotic is added, there will be a mass die-off. However, a few of the bacteria usually are
immune and survive. The next generation is mostly immune because they have inherited
immunity from the survivors. That is the case with the purple bacteria in the Petri dishes shown
below--the bacteria population has evolved.

Evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria

This same phenomenon of bacteria evolution speeded up by human actions occurs in our own
bodies at times when an antibiotic drug is unable to completely eliminate a bacterial
infection. That is the reason that medical doctors are sometimes hesitant to recommend an
antibiotic for their patients and insist that the full dosage be used even if the symptoms of illness
go away. They do not want to allow any potentially antibiotic resistant bacteria to survive.

Modern interpretation of Charles Darwin’s theory

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The variations that occur are as a result of changes that are produced at the genetic level. They
occur as an organism's genes mutate and/or recombine in different ways during reproduction and
are passed on to future generations. Genes are the portions of an organism's DNA that carry the
code responsible for building that organism in a very specific way. From generation to
generation, molecular mechanisms reshuffle, duplicate, and alter genes in a way that produces
genetic variation. This variation is the raw material for evolution. Mutations are 'mistakes'
introduced into the genetic material used for reproduction, which can occur naturally, or as a
result of something like exposure to radiation.

Positive mutations that give some benefit to the organism provide the new material for natural
selection to operate on. This could lead to individuals inheriting new characteristics that give
them a survival and reproductive advantage in their local environments; these characteristics tend
to increase in frequency in the population, while those that are disadvantageous decrease in
frequency. Any non-genetic changes that occur during an organism's life span, for example an
increase in muscle mass, cannot be passed on to the next generation and are not examples of
evolution.

Evolution relies on there being genetic variation in a population which affects the physical
characteristics (phenotype) of an organism. Individuals in a species show variation in physical
characteristics. This variation is because of differences in their genes. Individuals with
characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to survive, finding food, avoiding
predators and resisting disease. These individuals are more likely to reproduce and pass their
genes on to their children. Individuals that are poorly adapted to their environment are less likely
to survive and reproduce. Therefore their genes are less likely to be passed on to the next
generation.

Thomas Hunt Morgan

Thomas Hunt Morgan, (1866 – 1945) American zoologist and geneticist, famous for his
experimental research with the fruit fly (Drosophila) by which he established the chromosome
theory of heredity. He showed that genes are linked in a series on chromosomes and are
responsible for identifiable, hereditary traits. Morgan’s work played a key role in establishing the
field of genetics. He received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1933.

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 Evidences of evolution
The evidences supporting organic evolution are derived from a number of fields of Biology.
Those discussed here are:
1. Morphological evidences
2. Embryological evidences
3. Palaeontological evidences
4. Chemical Similarities
5. Molecular evidences

1. Evidences from Morphology

Though organisms of different species and groups are quite different from each other, they still
retain certain common features. The comparative study of various organs in different groups of
vertebrates exhibit common features which show that they evolved from a common ancestor.
Take for example the heart of the vertebrates.

Morphological evidences for evolution are derived from

1. Homologous organs
2. analogous organs
3. Vestigial organs
4. Connecting links:

Homologous Organs
Homologous organs are the organs which are similar in structure and origin but may look very
different and perform different functions.
– Forelimbs of vertebrates are a good example of homologous organs. They are built on the same
fundamental plan yet they appear different and perform different functions.
– In each case the forelimb consists of humerus, radius and ulna, carpals, metacarpals and
phalanges. This basic similarity in the structure of the apparently different forelimbs of different

21
kinds of vertebrates is due to the fact that all these limbs have evolved from a common type
called the pentadactyl (five-fingered) limb.

This is the case with the vertebrates, which are the animals that have internal skeletons. The
arms of humans, the forelegs of dogs and cats, the wings of birds, and the flippers of whales and
seals all have the same types of bones (humerus, radius, and ulna) because they have retained
these traits of their shared common ancient vertebrate ancestor.

Figure 1: The similar construction of these appendages indicates that these organisms share a
common ancestor
(Diagram from: https://www.ck12.org/book/cbse_biology_book_class_xii/section/9.9/)

Analogous organs
The structures which are functionally similar but structurally different are called analogous
organs. The wing of an insect, and that of a bird or bat or pterodactyl are examples of
analogous organs (Fig. 1.6). The function of the wing is the same (for flying) but the insect wing
has no structural resemblance with that of the vertebrates.

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Vestigial Organs
Vestigial organ is any small degenerate or imperfectly developed (non-functional) organ or part
which may have been complete and functional in some ancestor. Examples of vestigial structures
include the human appendix. In humans the vermiform appendix is a vestigial structure; it has
lost much of its ancestral digestive function. Other examples include the pelvic bone of a snake
and and the wings of flightless birds. Vestigial Organs provide evidence for evolution because
they suggest that an organism changed from using the structure to not using the structure, or
using it for a different purpose.

Connecting Links
The connecting links establish continuity in the series of organisms by proving that one group
has evolved from the other. Connecting link is an organism with characteristics of two different
groups of organisms, e.g. duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a link between
reptiles and mammals.
Duck-billed platypus: Semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal
Another good example is that of a Another good is example of fossil bird Archaeopteryx, which
was a connecting link between reptiles and birds. This bird had a beak with teeth and a long tail
(with bones) like the lizards.

2. Evidences from Embryology

Embryology is the study of development of an organism. Evidence of an evolutionary common
ancestor is seen in the similarity of embryos in markedly different species. Examples found in
comparative anatomy include the forelimbs of humans and the flippers of a whale, which
supports the idea of common descent. Although a human arm and bat wing look different, the
process of embryonic development is similar.

23
All vertebrate embryos, including humans, exhibit gill slits at some point in their early
development. These disappear in the adults of terrestrial groups, but are maintained in adult
forms of aquatic groups such as fish and some amphibians. Great ape embryos, including
humans, have a tail structure during their development that is lost by the time of birth. The
reason embryos of unrelated species are often similar is that mutational changes that affect the
organism during embryonic development can cause amplified differences in the adult, even
while the embryonic similarities are preserved.

3. Evidences from Paleontology

Paleontology is the study of fossils. Fossils are the remains or traces of animal and plant life of
the past, found embedded in rock either as petrified hard parts or as moulds, casts or tracks. The
fossils of the earliest era in the geological time scale were those of bacteria, then invertebrates
and then successively of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and lastly of birds and mammals and among
mammals primitive fossils of humans are the most recent. The discovered fossils of the horse,
elephant, camels, and humans provide their ancestral history. Some extinct species had traits that
were transitional between major groups of organisms.

The evidence also shows that what have appeared to be gaps in the fossil record are due to
incomplete data collection. The more that we learn about the evolution of specific species lines,
the more that these so-called gaps or "missing links in the chain of evolution" are filled with
transitional fossil specimens.

Fossils provide solid evidence that organisms from the past are not the same as those found
today; fossils show a progression of evolution. Scientists determine the age of fossils and
categorize them all over the world to determine when the organisms lived relative to each other.
The resulting fossil record tells the story of the past, and shows the evolution of form over
millions of years. For example, highly detailed fossil records have been recovered for sequences
of species in the evolution of whales and modern horses. The fossil record of horses in North
America is especially rich and many contain transition fossils: those showing intermediate
anatomy between earlier and later forms. The fossil record extends back to a dog-like ancestor

24
some 55 million years ago that gave rise to the first horse-like species 55 to 42 million years ago
in the genus Eohippus. The series of fossils tracks the change in anatomy resulting from a
gradual drying trend that changed the landscape from a forested one to a prairie. Successive
fossils show the evolution of teeth shapes and foot and leg anatomy to a grazing habit, with
adaptations for escaping predators, for example in species of Mesohippus found from 40 to 30
million years ago.

So 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
that it often is difficult to identify categorically when the transition occurs from one to another
particular species. Actually, nearly all fossils can be regarded as intermediates in some sense;
they are life forms that come between the forms that preceded them and those that followed.

The fossil record thus provides consistent evidence of systematic change through time—of
descent with modification. From this huge body of evidence, it can be predicted that no reversals
will be found in future paleontological studies. That is, amphibians will not appear before fishes,
nor mammals before reptiles, and no complex life will occur in the geological record before the
oldest eucaryotic cells. This prediction has been upheld by the evidence that has accumulated
until now: no reversals have been found.

4. Molecular evidence

Despite the great diversity of life on our planet, the simple language of the DNA code is the
same for all living things. This is evidence of the fundamental molecular unity of life.

Evidence of a common ancestor for all of life is reflected in the universality of DNA as the
genetic material and of the near universality of the genetic code and the machinery of DNA
replication and expression. Fundamental divisions in life between the three domains are reflected
in major structural differences in otherwise conservative structures such as the components of
ribosomes and the structures of membranes. In general, the relatedness of groups of organisms is
reflected in the similarity of their DNA sequences—exactly the pattern that would be expected
from descent and diversification from a common ancestor.

25
DNA sequences have also shed light on some of the mechanisms of evolution. For example, it is
clear that the evolution of new functions for proteins commonly occurs after gene duplication
events. These duplications are a kind of mutation in which an entire gene is added as an extra
copy (or many copies) in the genome. These duplications allow the free modification of one copy
by mutation, selection, and drift, while the second copy continues to produce a functional
protein. This allows the original function for the protein to be kept, while evolutionary forces
tweak the copy until it functions in a new way.
All organisms have cell as the basic unit of life. The cell is made of biomolecules
common to all organisms.
- Ribosomes, the cellular organelles are of universal occurrence in organisms.
- DNA is the hereditary material of all organisms, except for some viruses.
- ATP is the molecule which stores and releases energy for biological processes.
- The same 22 amino acids form the constituents of proteins of almost all organisms.

6. Geographic Distribution of Related Species

The geographic distribution of organisms on Earth follows patterns that are best explained by
evolution. For instance, before humans arrived 60-40,000 years ago, Australia had more than 100
species of kangaroos, koalas, and other marsupials but none of the more advanced
terrestrial placental mammals such as dogs, cats, bears, horses. Land mammals were entirely
absent from the even more isolated islands that make up Hawaii and New Zealand. Bale
mountains of Ethiopia also have so many endemic species.

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