Biology 1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Uniformitarianism, University Of Western Ontario, Catastrophism
1 Oct 2016
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Lecture 3/outcomes: why evolution is true difference between growth and development of an individual vs evolution. Growth of development of an individual: not evolutionary (occurs over one lifetime. Useless parts that must have functioned in ancestral organisms. Animals must have changed (buffon) meaning of catastrophism, gradualism, uniformitarianism Catastrophism (cuvier)= each layer of fossils represents organisms that died in a local catastrophe. Gradualism (hutton)= earth changed slowly over its history, slow, continuous processes acted over very long periods of time. Geological processes proceed very slowly-> must have taken millions of years to mold landscape into current configuration mechanisms of evolution proposed by lamarck. Proposed that a metaphysical perfecting principle caused organisms to become better suited to their environments. Simple organisms moved up the ladder of life by evolving into more complex ones. Galapagos islands- animals and plants on different islands varied slightly in form, many resemble those in mainland: descended from south american ancestors, appearance changed after being isolated.
