PSYC 385 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Variance, Sexual Selection, Sexual Reproduction
12 Oct 2018
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Department
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PSYC 385
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Class 2 - Jan 10
● Things Known Before Darwin’s Time
○ Biologists knew that for example:
■ Primates all had 5 digits on hands and feet and that wings of birds were
similar to flippers of seals
■ Embryological development was very similar in species that were very
different
■ Species seem to have characteristics with a “purpose” (e.g., porcupine’s
quills)
○ There was also the fossil record – bones from older geological strata were not
the same as more recent strata, suggesting change over time
○ Darwin was sure not the first evolutionist
■ Lamarck (1744-1829): “the inheritance of acquired characteristics”
● Lamarck
○Inheritance of acquired characteristics
○Ex. Giraffe long necks are gained by parents stretching
their necks and offsprings inheriting it
○ Not how natural selection works
■ Cuvier (1769-1832): catastrophism – species wiped out and replaced
● Cuvier - Catastrophism
○ God would wipe out species and replace them
○Tried to explain why bones were different in older strata
than more recent ones
■ Lyell (1797-1875): nope – uniformitarianism
● Lyles - Uniformitarianism
○One set of scientific principle in play when explaining the
evolutionary world
■ Malthus - Essay
● Fixed amount of resources for a species
●Exponential growth of population vs. resources growth
● Creates competition for survival
■ Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802): E conchis omnia
● Darwin’s Theory in a Nutshell Redux
○ Didn’t publish ideas for 20 years
○ Natural Selection
■Variation and selection: Modifications that “helped” an organism survive
and reproduce in a given environment (i.e., adapt to it) are referred to as
adaptations
■ Sexual selection another means of evolution
○ Darwin’s model of heredity though was a “blending theory,
■ It was incorrect
■ Saw phylogeny in a different way
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
●
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■ Variation: There are subtle differences in the characteristics of organisms
■ Inheritance: These differences passed onto offspring (for Darwin, through
blending
■ Competition: Differences can increase or decrease survival (and
reproduction)
■ Natural Selection: Characteristics increasing survival and reproduction
will therefore become more common
● Phenotypic Differences
○ An adaptation: An inherited characteristic that increases an organism’s survival
and reproduction in an ancestral environment
■ Modification through descent (homologies)
●Same structures that have changed over time
● Shared across different species
● Common descent
■ Convergent evolution (analogies)
●Different structures and evolutionary processes but have same
function
●Ex. butterfly, birds, bats all have different wing structures
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Primates all had 5 digits on hands and feet and that wings of birds were similar to flippers of seals. Embryological development was very similar in species that were very different. Species seem to have characteristics with a purpose (e. g. , porcupine"s quills) There was also the fossil record bones from older geological strata were not the same as more recent strata, suggesting change over time. Darwin was sure not the first evolutionist. Lamarck (1744-1829): the inheritance of acquired characteristics . Giraffe long necks are gained by parents stretching their necks and offsprings inheriting it. Cuvier (1769-1832): catastrophism species wiped out and replaced. God would wipe out species and replace them. Tried to explain why bones were different in older strata than more recent ones. One set of scientific principle in play when explaining the. Fixed amount of resources for a species. Exponential growth of population vs. resources growth.
