ES101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Aru Islands, Multiple Choice, Canola
Week 4 Lecture 2: Evolution and Biodiversity
- Multiple choice
- Short answer
- Long answer
- Textbook & lectures
- 45 minutes
Controversy Over GMO’s
- Some products labelled non GMO → Vermont law requires labelling
- Obama signs bill requiring labels for GMO’s
Alfred Wallace (1823-1913)
- Poor formal education, apprenticed as a surveyor in Wales
- Travelled to South America and SE Asia (Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea) to collect
specimens for European museums
- Arrived at theory of evolution during same period as Darwin
- Published in 1857 On the Natural history of the Aru Islands, a clear evolutionary
explanation for different flora, fauna of the Indonesian archipelago
- During a malarial fever, he realized that natural selection and survival of fittest drove
evolution
- Sent a draft manuscript to Darwin 1858 outlining a theory of natural selection
Wallace’s Line
- Animals on west side of line have dominantly Asian origins; on east side, have
Australian origins (marsupials)
Charles Darwin
- 1809-92
- Travelled around world as ship’s naturalist on survey ship Beagle, 1831-36; collected
specimens
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- 1859 published On the Origin of Species
- 1871 published The Descent of Man
Darwin’s finches on Galapagos
- “Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of
birds, one might fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one
species had been taken and modified for different ends.” Voyage of the Beagle (1839),
p328
Charles Darwin
- Origin of Species stimulated outrage from church
- Later wrote on wide range of other natural science topics
- Final book was The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms
Adaptation
- Can be anatomical, physiological, and/or behavioural
- E.g. koalas
- Specialize in eating eucalyptus leaves that are low energy, high fibre, mildly toxic
- Have teeth and digestive system capable of handling such a diet
- Sleep for 20hrs/day, eat for 4hrs, rarely socialize
- Have strong claws for grasping tree limbs
What Wallace and Darwin Didn’t Know
- Genetics
- Wallace and Darwin could explain macro-evolution and behaviour adaptation; genetics
helps explain micro-evolution
- What’s a gene? A segment of DNA molecules that contains coded information about
how an organism will develop and function
- These are passed from parent to offspring during reproduction
- DNA is instructions for building blocks on how cells should be assembled
Alleles
- Related organisms (e.g. all humans) typically have the same number, type of genes
- Any given gene may have 2 or more molecular structures (alleles)
- With every generation of offspring, the alleles, get shuffled into new combinations
- Sometimes this shuffling results in combinations that are detrimental to development of
organism, sometimes beneficial - especially when a random mutation gets mixed in
Genetic Basis for Biological Adaptation
- A gene mutates
- The mutation turns out to be beneficial to the individual
- The individual has more offspring than other members of the population
- The mutation is passed onto the offspring
- They have more offspring than their competitors
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Some products labelled non gmo vermont law requires labelling. Obama signs bill requiring labels for gmo"s. Poor formal education, apprenticed as a surveyor in wales. Travelled to south america and se asia (borneo, celebes, new guinea) to collect specimens for european museums. Arrived at theory of evolution during same period as darwin. Published in 1857 on the natural history of the aru islands, a clear evolutionary explanation for different flora, fauna of the indonesian archipelago. During a malarial fever, he realized that natural selection and survival of fittest drove evolution. Sent a draft manuscript to darwin 1858 outlining a theory of natural selection. Animals on west side of line have dominantly asian origins; on east side, have. Travelled around world as ship"s naturalist on survey ship beagle, 1831-36; collected specimens. 1859 published on the origin of species. Origin of species stimulated outrage from church. Later wrote on wide range of other natural science topics.
