Study Guide for Exam 3I. Development of the Theory of Evolution(Chapter 8)1. What is Charles Darwin’s three-word definition for Evolution? And what do those three little wordsmean? “Evolution” is both a FACT and a THEORY. Recall the definition of a FACT is something that istrue (and can be verified to be true). What evidence available today verifies that evolution has occurred?Now to the THEORY—what is the definition of a theory (you may have to go back to the first unit forthis one!). Why is the Theory of Evolution considered to be the single most important idea in biology?What year did Darwin publish his book outlining the Theory of Evolution?2. Let’s review what people thought about the possibility that living things can change (evolve) BEFOREDarwin comes on the scene. The Greek philosopher Plato didn’t think living things could change—whatwas his reasoning?Plato’s student Aristotle extended Plato’s philosophy to suggest living things could bearranged in a sort of hierarchy—what was this hierarchy called? Could living things “move up” or “movedown” this hierarchy? Why not?As a corollary: what did this philosophy suggest about extinction?Roman philosophy ‘absorbed’ Greek ideas about living things. But as Rome conquered more of theworld, another tradition spread throughout the empire.What does the Book of Genesis say about thepossibility that living things could change?According to Genesis, how quickly did living things appearon the planet and how long ago did this happen (according to calculations by James Ussher)? Finallyaccording to Genesis, what major event created ALL the geologic features on the planet? When Romefell, the Christian church filled the power vacuum in Europe so its teachings were considered “THELAW”. What did the Christian church teach about the possibility that living things could change?Incidentally, what does the word “immutable” mean?Finally, things began to change with the arrivalof the Renaissance in Europe and the re-discovery” of the scientific method. The first (and some wouldsay most important) step in the scientific method is to do what? And for the sake of completion—what areall the other steps of the scientific method?3. Observations from the Geologists. The first is James Hutton and his concept of uniformitarianism.What is uniformitarianism? According to Hutton’s measurements, how fast do normal geologic processesoccur?What is the implication of this for the age of the earth?The second geologist is William Smith.He wrote a book about fossils (hey—what are fossils anyway?!?). What did he observe about them? Whatare strata? What did he observe about how fossils were arranged in strata? The third geologist was the‘founder of Geology’ Charles Lyell. His book (Principles of Geology) showed what about the rate ofchange in geological features? What is the principle of superposition? What is the principle of faunalsuccession? When young Charles Darwin read Lyell’s book, what was his take on the possibility thatliving things could change?4. Now for some observation from some Biologists. Buffon is the first on the list, He defended the ideathat living things were immutable but made several observations that suggested this may not be the case.For example, when he studies the anatomy of vertebrate animals (what are these) he found numeroussimilarities among them. Give some examples of this. Today, such similarities are called what? Today,what explains the existence of such similarities? Buffon went on to describe numerous vestigialstructures. What are these? Give some examples.What was Buffon’s explanation for vestigialstructures?(for fun: what’s the story of Thomas Jefferson’s moose?). On now to Lamarck. He is the firstto actually come out and state that living things could change. His ideas thoroughly discredited becausethe process he proposed to account for how living things could change was wrong. What was Lamarck’s‘inheritance of acquired characteristics’ and what was wrong with it? Lamarck’s professional rival wasCuvier. What did HE think about the immutability of species? What did Cuvier think about the possibilitythat living things could go extinct? Indeed, what did Cuvier discover about fossil animals (in comparisonwith modern ones)? How didthey relate to their position in rock strata?SO: sum up…..
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