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Understanding Evolution An Introduction to Evolutionary Theory What Is Evolution? • Descent with modification. • Descent? – Reproduction – Creation of new individuals from old – Continuity (connection) between generations through inheritance (heredity, genetic information) • Modification? – To change or alter Where did this idea come from? • Though not the first to propose the theory, evolutionary theory in its modern form was made famous by Charles Darwin (1809-1882). • For 5 years in the 1830s Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle – a ship charting the coast of South America. • Darwin, a naturalist, was invited to come on the voyage to keep the captain company at dinner. Darwin’s Travels Darwin’s Observations Extinct & Modern Forms • Observed exposed fossils of extinct mammals in cliff faces. •Where did the unknown forms originate? •Observed similarities between extinct and living forms (morphology & distribution). •Could there be a link? Darwin’s Observations Different But Similar… •Observed great diversity of living things. •Observed differences in species that had been separated on various Galapagos islands. •However forms were similar enough to infer common ancestry. Darwin’s Dangerous Idea • Why did some species survive while others became extinct? • An excerpt from the biographical film… • Darwin's Dangerous Idea But How Does It Work? • • • • • • Natural Selection! - ‘Survival of the fittest’. Struggle for survival (environmental pressures) Individual variation in phenotype. Inheritance (heredity) Differential success of certain phenotypes. Consequently, certain adaptations enable organisms to become better suited to their environment… • And living things EVOLVE… Darwin observed that on different islands, different finches had been ‘successful’ (survived and reproduced in abundance) by developing different adaptations that suited the environment. Natural Selection in Action • Natural Selection in Action Natural Selection In Action • Natural selection of the woolyboogers. • Get into groups of 5-6 and number off.