GENERAL BIOLOGY II

S.Y. ‘23 - ‘24 | SEM #2 Q3 | LESSON 6: DEVELOPMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT

LAMARCK THEORY OF USE AND DISUSE

- When certain organs become especially

developed as a result of some
environmental need, that the state of
development is hereditary and can be
passed on to progeny

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
- A method by which biologists organize
living things into groups
- Also called taxonomy

TAXA (SINGULAR, TAXON) KINGDOM

- Groups of organisms in a taxonomy - The highest taxon in Linnaean taxonomy

- Kingdom and species — commonly used - Represents major divisions of organisms
taxa - Kingdoms of organisms include the plant
and animal kingdoms
Why do biologists classify organisms?
PHYLUM
- To make sense of the incredible diversity
of life on earth - Plural, phyla
- This taxon is a division of a kingdom
Scientists have identified millions of diff. Species - Phyla in the animal kingdom include
of organisms. Among animals, the most diverse chordates (animal with an internal
group of organisms is the insects skeleton) and
- arthropods (animals with an external
skeleton)
LINNAEAN SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION
CLASS
- The most influential early classification
system - This taxon is a division of a phylum
- Developed by Carolus Linnaeus - Classes in the chordate phylum include
- All modern classification systems have mammals and birds
their roots in Linnaeus’ system
ORDER
CAROLUS LINNAEUS - This taxon is a division of a class
- Swedish botanist who lived in the 1700s - Orders in the mammal class include
- The father of taxonomy rodents and primates
- Tried to describe and classify the entire
known natural world. FAMILY
- In 1735, he published his classification
- This taxon is a division of an order
system in a work called Systema Naturae
- Families of the primate order include
(System of nature)
hominids (apes and humans and
hylobatids (gibbons)

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 GENERAL BIOLOGY II
S.Y. ‘23 - ‘24 | SEM #2 Q3 | LESSON 6: DEVELOPMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT
GENUS
- This taxon is a division of a family
- Genera in the hominid family include
homo (humans) and pan (chimpanzees)
SPECIES
- This taxon is below the genus
- The lowest taxon in linnaeus’ system
- Species in the pan genus include pan
troglodytes (common chimpanzees) and
pan paniscus (pygmy chimpanzees)
THOMAS MALTHUS
- an English economist.
- He wrote a popular essay called “On
Population.”
- He argued that human populations have
the potential to grow faster than the
resources they need.
- When populations get too big, disease and
famine occur. These calamities control
population size by killing off the weakest
people.
CATASTROPHISM
- A theory developed by Georges Cuvier
- Based on paleontological evidence in the
Paris basin
- states that natural history has been
punctuated by catastrophic events that
altered that way life developed and rocks
were deposited.
- Cuvier was there when he observed
something peculiar about the fossil
record. Instead of finding a continuous
succession of fossils, Cuvier 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.
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GRADUALISM
- a theory developed by James Hutton
according to which profound changes to
the Earth
- This theory inspired an evolution theory
in paleontology, also called gradualism,
according to which the species appeared
by the gradual transformation of
ancestral species.
- According to this theory, the population
of a species is transformed slowly and
progressively into a new species by the
accumulation of micro-evolutionary
changes in the genetic heritage.
-
EVOLUTION OF DARWIN’S THEORY
- It took Darwin years to form his theory of
evolution by natural selection
Darwin’s Reasoning
1. Like Lamarck, Darwin assumed that
species can change over time. The fossils
he found helped convince him of that.
2. From Lyell, Darwin saw that earth and its
life were very old. Thus there had been
enough time for evolution to produce the
great diversity of life Darwin had
observed
3. From Malthus, Darwin knew that
populations could grow faster than their
resources. This “overproduction of
offspring” led to a “struggle for
existence,” in Darwin’s words.
4. From artificial selection, Darwin knew
that some offspring have variations that
occur by chance, and that can be
inherited. In nature, offspring with certain
variations might be more likely to survive
the “struggle for existence” and
reproduce. If so, they would pass their
favorable variations to their offspring.
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 GENERAL BIOLOGY II
S.Y. ‘23 - ‘24 | SEM #2 Q3 | LESSON 6: DEVELOPMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT

5. Darwin coined the term fitness to refer to

an organism’s relative ability to survive
and produce fertile offspring. Nature
selects the variations that are most
useful. Therefore, he called this type of
selection natural selection
6. Darwin knew artificial selection could
change domestic species over time. He
inferred that natural selection could also
change species over time. In fact, he
thought that if a species changed enough,
it might evolve into a new species.
CHARLES LYELL THEORY
- Also known as uniformitarianism which
was significant influence on the formation
of charles darwin theory of evolution
- States that the processes by which
current geological features were created
were slow, steady and constant
❖ Natural selection occurs when individuals
with certain genotypes are more likely
than individuals with other genotypes to
survive and reproduce, and thus to pass
on their alleles to the next generation. As
Charles Darwin (1859) argued in On the
Origin of Species, if the following
conditions are met, natural selection
must occur:
1. There is variation among individuals
within a population in some traits.
2. This variation is heritable (i.e.,
there is a genetic basis to the
variation, such that offspring tend
to resemble their parents in this
trait).
3. Variation in this trait is associated
with variation in fitness (the
average net reproduction of
individuals with a given genotype
relative to that of individuals with
other genotypes).
DARWINISM
- A theory of biological evolution developed
(1809-1882)
- States that all species of organisms arise
and develop through the natural selection
of small, inherited variations that
increase the individual’s ability to
compete, survive and reproduce
THE MODERN SYNTHESIS
- Describes the fusion (merger) of
Mendelian genetics with Darwinian
evolution that resulted in a unified theory
of evolution.
- Sometimes referred to as Neo-Darwinian
theory
MENDELIAN GENETICS
- The study of the inheritance of traits
controlled by a single gene with two
alleles
- Mendel proposed that traits are
influenced by discrete heritable elements
(genes) that come in different varieties
(alleles)
- Mendel suggested that each individual
carries two alleles for a gene, one
inherited from each parent and that these
alleles separate during reproduction
- Mendelian genetics explains how some
traits are dominant or recessive in
offspring
Diversity within a population arose from the
random production of mutations, and the
environment acted to select the most fit
phenotypes

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