BIO 1130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Selective Breeding, Natural Selection, Medium Ground Finch

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIO 1130
• Professor: Chapeau

Document Summary

The 6th and last edition of his book, published in 1872, contains a chapter dedicated to the most important arguments against his theory. Most of these coming from his creationist colleagues. Thus, the selective forces are variable: traits in populations will change and can modify the species. Dar(cid:449)i(cid:374)"s theory is (cid:449)ithi(cid:374) the populatio(cid:374) le(cid:448)el (cid:449)hereas la(cid:373)ar(cid:272)k"s is a(cid:271)out i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual le(cid:448)el. For darwin, this mechanism is valid because: It respects the principle of uniformity of lyell and hutton: the results of natural selection are visible in nature, the mechanism can be verified on current populations. (e. g. artificial selection) It is a material concept (no need for divine intervention): the mechanism is not random. Natural selection enables individuals that are better adapted to their environment to become more abundant than those who are not (differential reproductive success): not a quest for perfection (evolution is not a directed process). It does not lead to the appeara(cid:374)(cid:272)e of (cid:862)perfe(cid:272)t(cid:863) traits.