BLG 144 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Allele Frequency, James Hutton, Body Plan
Document Summary
Plato typological thinking: species are unchanging types and that variations within species are unimportant or even misleading. Aristotle the great chain of being (ladder of nature): Species were organized into a sequence based on increased size and complexity (humans ^) Characteristics of species were fixed- they did not change through time. Despite similar environments, different regions have distinct plants and animals. Asserted that climate change facilitated the worldwide spread of species from their centers of origin. Theory of gradualism: change is gradual and in slow processes, happening over a long period of time. The earth we see today is the result of slow gradual changes over time. The growth of population will always outrun its ability to feed itself. If every couple raised 4 children, the population would increase geometrically by factors of 4. Looked at humans as a group (population) Lamarck idea of evolution as change through time. Organisms originate spontaneously then evolve into more complex and better species.
