BIO 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Tiktaalik, Thomas Robert Malthus, Stratum
Document Summary
Textbook: heritable change in one or more characteristic of a population or species from one generation to the next . Deserve primary credit for theory of evolution. Developed existing ideas about descent with modification. First to observe that natural selection is the main process driving evolution. The earth is only 6000 years old. Earth is much older shaped slowly by repeated events. Lamarck also believed some species changed over time. Believed in felt needs to cause acquired characteristics. Was wrong he thought felt needs cause changes when helpful. Potential for exponential growth but limits prevent this. Wrote on the origin of species in 1859. Species were not created in their present form. Individuals in a population vary-some traits are more successful than others. Individuals with successful traits survive better and pass on the traits to more offspring. Over time, the percentage of individuals in a population with those successful traits increases.