Out comes & video

I believe that I met all the out comes for this project. I have learnt what evolution is, different theories and how every ones theories all cam together to create the theory of evolution that we use today. I have learnt new terms like natural selection. Before I did this I did not know much about evolution, and now I feel I know much more.

This is a video that explains the basics about evolution

•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vss1VKN2rf8 

quiz

Questions
1) What is evolution?
2) What are the four major pieces of evidence used towards the theory of evolution?
3) What was James Hutton's theory called?
4) What were four observations that Darwin used to support this theory?5) What is natural selection?
　


Answers
1) Evolution is the process of changes in the inheritable traits of a species over many generations.2) The fossil record, chemical anatomical similarities of related forms of life
Geographic distribution of species, geographic distribution of species, and recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations.
Recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations
3)James Hutton proposed a theory he called actualism.
4) Organisms produce more offspring then the amount that could survive till adulthood, Every offspring has some variation that makes it different from their parents, some variations will have a greater survival rate, and the ones that have better variations tend to survive and produce offspring that are more successful.
5) Natural selection is the process where organisms better adapt to their environment, and are more likely to survive and to be able to produce more offspring.

References

Nelson Biology 12 textbook

 http://www.google.ca/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1366&bih=533&tbm=isch&tbnid=MAV_Rg3fkUXS2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.historyrv.com/blog/en/2012/01/broken-natural-selection/&docid=edKzqZfiAvNeaM&imgurl=http://www.historyrv.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/natural_selection.png&w=300&h=272&ei=y0DWT9_AKdHH0AHpp8C3Aw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=650&vpy=176&dur=172&hovh=214&hovw=236&tx=146&ty=172&sig=113163600701504898655&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=142&start=0&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:146
http://curiosity.discovery.com
http://www.strangescience.net/evolution.htm
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/lines_02
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/history/evol_happens.shtml http://www.indiana.edu/~oso/evolution/EvolMorphol.htm
http://www.linfo.org/peer_review.html http://www.goldiesroom.org/Multimedia/Bio_Images/21%20Evolution/01%20Evolution%20Evidence%20Flowchart.jpg http://online.santarosa.edu/homepage/cgalt/BIO10-Stuff/Ch13-Evolution/Evolution-Evidence.jpg http://www.prehistoricplanet.com/images/features/earth/geologictime/rocklayers1.jpg http://www.wacona.com/promote/fossils/form.htm http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_3.htm http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=hawaii+plants&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ACGW_enCA359CA359&biw=1366&bih=533&tbm=isch&tbnid=TSjK_fQfLYpfQM:&imgrefurl=http://www.nvcc.edu/home/cbentley/geoblog/2008/12/critters-in-hawaii.html&docid=R8-bxGd10yxpUM&imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/3115101281_7c8c23675a_o.jpg&w=650&h=488&ei=gQHET5SyA4rs0gHyrP2fCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=429&vpy=138&dur=2116&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=138&ty=133&sig=109864794652923545439&page=2&tbnh=155&tbnw=218&start=12&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:12,i:114 http://www.strangescience.net/evolution.htm
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/lines_02
http://www.indiana.edu/~oso/evolution/EvolMorphol.htm
http://www.strangescience.net/evolution.htm
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/lines_02
http://www.indiana.edu/~oso/evolution/EvolMorphol.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/14/science/sciencespecial2/20050815_EVO_GRAPHIC.html http://dictionary.reference.com
http://subtlekate.wordpress.com/tag/charles-darwin/
http://toyamay-victoria.blogspot.ca/2011/04/53-homologous-structuresembryologyvesti.html

Natural Selection

Natural selection - The process where organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and be able to produce more offspring. This was Charles Darwin's observations, and it is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution.

 

The theory of evolution by natural selection

•  Observation 1 - Individuals within a species are different in many ways
• Observation 2 - Some of the differences can be inherited
• Observation 3 - Every generation has more offspring that can survive
• Observation 4 - Populations in species remain around the same size.

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• Inference 1- members of the same species compete with each other to survive.
• Inference 2 - The individuals with more favourable variations are more likely to survive & pass them on.
• Inference 3 - As the individuals contribute more offspring to the generations that were succeeding , the ones that have a variations that are more favourable will become more common.

When natural selection was first proposed, scientists did not have any way to be able to date rocks or fossils with precision. There was little fossil evidence for species from ancient to modern, and no understanding of the genetic basis of inheritance and variation.

Three questions unanswered by the theory of evolution are:

How does evolution add information? Mutation explains how existing genetic information is changed, but it doesn't explain where genetic information comes from.

How can evolution be so quick? Current evolutionary theory hasn't explained how a one celled organism can evolve into an organism that is as complex as a human in the time that is available in Earth's history.

Where did the first living cell come from? For mutation and natural selection, processes essential to evolution, to operate, life must already exist. The hypothesis is that life formed from chemical reactions about 4 billion years ago.

Darwins observations

Darwin made four observations that he used to supoort his theory they were:

1. Organisms produce more offspring that the amount that could survive to reach adulthood
2. Every offspring has some variation that makes it different from their parents
3. Some variations will have a greater surivial rate than others
4. The ones with the better variations will generally tend to survive and produce offspring that are more successful.

Natural selection- process where organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Homologous and Analogous

Homologous-  Having similar structure and a anatoical position in different organisms suggesting s common ancestry or evolutionary orgin.  An example if wings of  a bat, and arms of humans.

These are homologous

Analogous-corresponding in functions, but they are not evolved from corresponding organs like wings from a bee and wings from a butterfly.

Darwin came to a conclusion that organisms that had homologous features most likely shared a recent common ancestor and those that had features that were analogous did not.

Homologous features can appear during developement of the embryo.

Durirng early weeks of developement, human embryos have a tail that is similar to a chicken and fish embryos.

Darwin studdied vestigial features, which are structures that serve a function that isnt useful in a organisms. An example that helped me understand is the muscles for moving ears in humans. Some people can make their ears move slightly but they cannot flip their ears back when they hear a nose like a dog. He also studdied anatomical oddies, which are related to an organisms body structure.

Modern research have found very large numbers of vestigal genes in DNA of living organisms, these genes do not function, but they bear a resemblance to the functioning genes.

Darwin recognized that all spceies have inherited variations that can be used to change species in different ways.

Difference from Lamarck and Darwin

Darwin's argument about evolution and Lamarcks are very different. Darwin strongly augured that evolution was a result of life adapting to its environmental conditions from one generation to the next. He also argued that species would go extinct instead of changing into new forms. Darwin also went by some of the same evidence for evolution, that Lamarck went by. The evidence included vestigial structures and artifical selection through breeding. Darwin accepted that changes that happened during  an organisms lifetime could be passed on to its offspring.

Lamarck's idea about inheritance remained popular through the 1800's. This was mostly because scientists did not know how heredity worked at the time, until genes were discovered. Lamarck remains a big figure to the history of biology for envisioning evolutionary change for the first time, even though Darwin did not so much agree.

This image sums about the real difference between what the two people did, it helped me to better understand

 



Charles Darwin's Voyage

Charles Darwin was recommend to be a naturalist on the voyage to South America on August 24, 1831. Darwin did not have a lot of formal training but had good things said about his ability to record things about natural history. He had started the voyage in December of 1831, on the HMS Beagle.

The voyage was for five years, but when they started out it was only supposed to last for two. The captain was Robert FitzRoy and he wanted to map the coastal waters of South America for the British navy. Darwin was brought onto the boat to observe, record, and collect rocks and minerals, plants and animals. He was given jars of spirits so he could keep specimens, microscope, binoculars, compass, notebooks, pistols, rifle, and the first book of Lyell's Principals of Gelogy, which was a gift from John Henslow who was the person who had recommended him. Darwin had collected thousands of species and he had send them to England.

During his voyage Darwin noticed that there was organisms that he seen that looked similar or shared traits of one that was extinct. An example was the comparison that he had made with an armadillo and a Glyptidon.
  
Glyptidon                                                          Armadillo

He also noted that after earthquakes had happened, a part of the shore life with lifted 3m above sea level and the mussels were still intact. He felt that the evidence he had just collected had supported Lyell idea that such events like that could eventually lead to the formation of mountain chains.

They went west to the Galapagos Islands and Darwin noted that a species that was there looked like species from South America but the ones in the Galapagos had traits that the ones in South America didn't have. Darwin didn't realize one thing though, that each island supported plants and animals that were unique.

When Darwin had left for his voyage, he left  believing in the immutable nature of species ,he returned in 1836.