Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Notes Outline: Evolution and Natural Selection (10.1) “Our earth is rich in life. About 1.4 million species have been named and millions more are thought to exist. Why are some species more alike than others? Were they all created at once, or have species evolved? These questions have been asked for thousands of years, but it was not until 1859 that the work of Charles Darwin offered answers.” I. Charles Darwin A. Voyage of the Beagle Dec. 27, 1831 Charles Darwin sailed on the H.M.S. Beagle. ________________________________________________________________________ As a medical student, he skipped lectures to spend time collecting biological specimens. In desperation his father sent him to Cambridge University to train to be a minister. Darwin, like most people of his time, believed in Creationism. ________________________________________________________________________ Creationism = idea that God was responsible for the creation of new species. ________________________________________________________________________ Moreover, creationists believe that species are unchanging. ________________________________________________________________________ Darwin’s observations led him to doubt creationism. ________________________________________________________________________ B. Darwin’s Finches Darwin repeatedly saw patterns in how kinds of animals and plants differed ________________________________________________________________________ Patterns suggesting that species changed over time and gave rise to new species. ________________________________________________________________________ On the Galapagos Islands, Darwin collected several species of finches. ________________________________________________________________________ All these species were similar, but each was specialized to catch food in a different way. ________________________________________________________________________ All the species of finches closely resembled one species of South America finch. ________________________________________________________________________ If each one of these animals had been created to match the habitat on the Galapagos Islands, why did they not resemble the animals of islands with similar environments that lie off the coast of Africa? Why did they instead resemble those of the adjacent South American continent? Darwin explained that a few organisms from South America must have migrated to the Galapagos Islands in the past. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ These animals changed over time in their new home, giving rise to many new species. ________________________________________________________________________ Change in species over time is known as Evolution. ________________________________________________________________________ C. Darwin’s Mechanism for Evolution Darwin published his controversial book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859 ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Darwin’s conclusion that species changed over time and gave rise to new species contradicted the prevailing beliefs that God created all living things and that living things did not change. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Natural Selection: Process by which organisms with traits well suited to an environment survive and reproduce at a greater rate than organisms less suited to that environment. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Mendel’s ideas about genetics were added to Darwin’s ideas, forming the modern principle of evolution. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________