Chapter 7 Section 2

 List 4 sources of Charles Darwin’s ideas

about evolution.

 Describe the 4 parts of Darwin’s theory

of evolution by natural selection.

 Relate genetics to evolution.

  He was interested in the study of plants
and animals
 1831 - He signed on as a naturalist for
a 5 year voyage around the world on
the British ship the HMS Beagle
 He made observations the helped form
his theory of evolution

http://biblauragraphy.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/darwin.jpg
 1000’s of plant and animal samples
were taken
 Observations were recorded

 Most notable stop: The Galápagos

Islands (965km west of Ecuador in
South America)

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Voyage_of_the_Beagle.jp
g
 The Galápagos Island plants and
animals were very similar to those in
Ecuador
 Ex: Finches of Galápagos were similar,
but different; each island also showed
differences in the finches
 Their beaks were adapted to the way
the bird gets their food
http://biology.unm.edu/ccouncil/Biology_203/Images/PopGen/darwin_finches.j
pg
  Darwin hypothesized that the island
finches were descended from South
American finches

 Over many generations the finches

evolved adaptations for the various
island environments

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s.jpg
 Vocabulary:
 Trait: a characteristic that can be passed from
parent to offspring through genes

 Selective Breeding: the human practice of

breeding animals or plants that have certain
desired traits
 Ex: pets (dogs) are bred for desired traits
 Thomas Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population

 Malthus thought that the human population could increase

more quickly than the food supply

 Darwin: populations of all species are limited by starvation,

disease, competition, and predation

 Only a limited number of individuals survive to reproduce;

offspring of the survivors inherit traits that help them
survive in their environment
 Most geologists in Darwin’s time did
not think the Earth was old enough to
allow for these slow changes

 Charles Lyell: Principles of Geology

 TheEarth has formed by natural

processes over a long period of time;
the Earth was pretty old!
 1858 – Alfred Russel Wallace arrived at
the same ideas as Darwin
 1859 – Darwin published Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection

 Natural selection: the process by which

organisms that are better adapted to
their environment survive and reproduce
more successfully that less adapted
organisms do
1. Overproduction

2. Inherited variation

3. Struggle to survive

4. Successful reproduction
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/images/interviews/naturalse
lection1.gif
 Darwin lacked some evidence for parts
of his theory

 Hedid not know HOW organisms

inherited traits

 Differences in genes
 Whatdid Darwin learn from Lyell’s data
about the age of the Earth?

 Give an example of selective breeding.