ANTH151 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Linnean Society Of London, Ecological Relationship, Mycobacterium
1 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Darwin on Natural Selection
Updating Darwin: Neo-Darwinism and the genetics revolution –
On the Origin of Species:
• Charles Darwin
o Before the Beagle;
▪ Born 1809 to established, well-to-do family (father = doctor)
▪ Failed as doctor, indifferent student of clergy, loved beetles
▪ Replaced someone shot in a duel – father opposed voyage
▪ On board mainly to keep captain company
▪ More interested in geology than biology
o The voyage of the Beagle (5 year voyage)
▪ Travelling by boat and stopping at successive ports for
substantial periods of time allowed Darwin the opportunity to
observe and analyse the incremental changes from location to
location
▪ Travel by plane over long distances for brief overseas stays
brings the stark contrasts and strident juxtapositions into view
o Darwin in Australia
▪ The Beagle in Sydney Harbour → Darwin stopped three times
in Australia at Sydney, Hobart and Albany
o Theorizing about Natural Selection:
▪ Evolutionary ‘coral’ → coral growing into those atoles
o Darwin on Natural Selection –
▪ Darwin returned with Beagle in 1836
▪ Key dimension of Darwin’s thought
• 1. Species varied from place to place - Islands with
isolated species
• 2. Population ever increasing (Malthus essay), so
survival not guaranteed → evidence of extinct animals
• 3. Species change → found bones of related but distinct
earlier forms
• 4. Variation emerged – species had deep relations and
shared origins
o Context of his ideas
▪ How did the concept of evolution become thinkable??
• A confluence of geographical, population mathematics,
zoological, fossil and theoretical knowledge that were
brought together for the concept of evolution to be
thought of in the middle of 19th century and to begin to
be accepted by middle of 20th century
• One of the first things was an essay on the Principle of
Population by Thomas Malthus
o Animals able to reproduce exponentially when
land and resources limited
▪ Darwin’s Predecessors
• Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) – Swedish classifier of
species
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Highlighted their similarities (founded Latin
words such as homosapiens etc.)
• George-Louis Leclerc, Comte du Buffon
o Published 44 volumes of natural history
o He explained some of the variability he saw in
nature as a product of degeneracy
o Buffon believed that in nature only individuals
exist and, unlike Linnaeus, he did not consider
the species as a collection – Buffon understood
nature as ‘unbroken continuum of individuals’
o Against the idea of stable, perfect creation
▪ Imperfections in organisms
▪ Theory of Degeneration
• Erasmus Darwin → divine creation, but process of
speciation
• Jean Baptiste Pierre Antione de Monet, Chevalier de
Lamarck → species change for environment
o Will to change, inheritance and law of use and
disuse
o Focused on adaptation
• James Hutton and Charles Lyell → geological
uniformitarianism
o Suggested earth was very old (‘deep time’
meaning super long time) – volcanoes could
shape land etc.
▪ William Wells described natural selection in 1818, Patrick
Mathew in 1831
▪ In 1844, Darwin wrote a book but held it in secret, to be
published if he died
▪ His ideas emerged early in notebooks
▪ In 1858, after 20 years writing about biology, Darwin received
package from Alfred Russell Wallace
o Wallace-Darwin public presentation:
▪ 1st July 1858 – Linnean Society in London, Wallace’s very
clear statement of principles of evolution read out with part of
Darwin’s unpublished 1844 manuscript and an 1857 letter
• Rocked the scientific world to its foundations? Barely
caused a stir
▪ 1859 – on the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
(best seller that went through six editions in his life)
o Darwin’s context
▪ Contemporaries already considering species change
▪ Sense of time depth growing due to geology
▪ Most theorists, however believed in degeneration,
aspirational change, or catastrophism
▪ Many proposals of evolution, but none were compelling until
Darwin’s
o What was so special about Origin?
▪ Staggering breadth → finches, pigeons, cave fish, gooseberries,
honeybees etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Updating darwin: neo-darwinism and the genetics revolution . Species varied from place to place - islands with isolated species: 2. Population ever increasing (malthus essay), so survival not guaranteed evidence of extinct animals: 3. Species change found bones of related but distinct earlier forms: 4. Imperfections in organisms: theory of degeneration, erasmus darwin divine creation, but process of speciation, jean baptiste pierre antione de monet, chevalier de. In 1844, darwin wrote a book but held it in secret, to be published if he died: his ideas emerged early in notebooks. Transmutation": natural selection not widely accepted even by darwin"s supporters. Since darwin: darwin"s work on evolution was a change maker for the field of biology, 1. In fossil record, change can look like gap" or missing link" due to rarity of remains and consistency during equilibrium. If offspring are blending of inheritance", all variation should disappear through sexual reproduction: genetics added understanding of mechanisms to natural selection.
