BIOA01H3 Chapter : Lecture 28th - BIOA01H3.docx

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIOA01H3
• Professor: Mark Fitzpatrick

Document Summary

Aristotle believed that both inanimate objects and living species had fixed characteristics; created ladder-like classification of nature from simplest to most complex: minerals plants animals humans gods of spiritual realm. Biological research dominated by natural theology sought to name and catalogue all of god"s creation. Careful study of each species will identify its position&purpose in scala. George-louis leclerc, le comte de buffon noted useless structures like two toes of pig feet never touching the ground. Buffon proposed some animals must"ve changed since creation; suggested vestigial structures useless body parts we observe today, must have functioned in ancestral organisms. Somewhat diff. species than recolonized area & when another catastrophe hit, formed diff. set of fossils in next higher layer. Jean baptiste lamarck proposed a metaphysical perfecting principle in which organisms evolved into complex ones, moving up ladder of life. Theorized two mechanisms that fostered evolutionary change: principle of use and disuse, inheritance of acquired characteristics.