Organic Evolution: 1/10/11The tests consist of:70% Material- Lecture Notes30% Material- From the ReadingsEnd of each chapter: Summary statements. Read these before reading the chapter. This will show whereto focus reading.Know the terms and concepts in the back of each chapter as well.Will only go over first 4 chapters in lecture of Pigliucci—other 4 chapters I need to go over on my own.Organic Evolution: 1/12/11- Why are we here in school?- Lifetime earning potential- 100,000s more- “Honing your critical thinking skills and prepearing yourself for lifelong learning is THE key aspect of higher education.”- No permanence in this economy/jobs- When someone tells you “this is the way it is”, what should your response, as a critical thinker, be?o Responseo How do you know?? Evaluate their response to your question.- “I don’t believe in evolution.”Introduction to evolutiono What IS organic (biological) evolution? Descent with modification- DARWIN DEFINITION.- Still very appropriate.o Who’s idea was biological evolution? NOT DARWIN(Origin of species, 1859) AND WALLACE. Came up with mechanismfor evolution.- Organisms to better fit their environment- adaptive change. Goes back to the Greeks- Anaximander (Greek, 6th cen. BC)o Fish>>>>> Humans- Buffon (Frenchman, 1753)o Horse and ass had common ancestor- Lamarck (Frenchman, 1802)o Simple organisms>>>>> complex organismso Changes occur on the need of organisms- Erasmus Darwin, C.R. Darwin’s randfathero Evolution by Lamarckian mechanismso Darwin- did not accept evolution- saw things on cruise that changed his mind. Came from a rich familyo Evolution DOES NOT! DOES NOT! Equal Natural selection Natural selection CAUSES evolution. It is not evolution.- What were the major contributions of C. Darwin?o Ernst Mayer claims that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was actually 5 theories! Evolution- well documented scientific theory- Wallace and Darwin- Darwin had nat. selection figured out by 1842 or 1844- KNEW PEOPLE WOULD HATE IT.o Darwin- wanted to assemble a HUGE book.o 1859- what was published- a cliffnotes versiono Wallace was in Far East- sent Darwin in London pressed plants Wallace sends note saying he came up with new idea- it was natural selection- Darwin, panicked- can’t wait to produce his book- Wallace will publish before him- Darwin could have died before publishing huge book w/o Wallace’s note. Presented idea together at a meeting in London CO PRESENTERS- both should get credit for natural selection. ****All living things can be traced back to a single (or few) common ancestors)- Specifically Darwin.- We are all/traced back to single common ancestor.- In book- 1 figure- phylogenetic tree- all life stems from common ancestor Evolution is gradual not saltational- Saltational- Big Changes- Darwin- big changes can occur, but evolution is more GRADUAL.- Because life goes back 3.5 billion years, evolution can fit scenario **Variational (populational) change- Evolution occurs by changes in the proportion of individuals within a pop. That differ in one or more hereditary characteristics- Pre - existing genetic variationso Came from mutations in genes **Natrual Selection- Causes the proportions of genetically variant indviduals within a population to change (resulting in adaptation to the local environment!) [A.R. Wallace, too]- Darwin probably came up with this before Wallace- They CO presented natural selection- both should receive credit.Evidence consistent with evolution? (and, by the way, evidence consistent with special creation!) Biologists- case for evolution is OVERWHELMING!o Does not mean evolution has been proveno SCIENCE DOES NOT PROVE ANYTHING. Morphological similarities among vertebrate embryoso Compare chick with mammal embryo Some similarity- Could be inherited from common ancestor- Or: God made it them that wayo Same bone and organizational patterns among vertebrate skeletons (holds for flowers, too) One explanation: Descent from common ancestor Special creator made it that way. Similarity of living organisms to fossil (extinct) organisms & great age of the eartho Same explanations as above: All powerful being or descent Island groups (e.g.. Galapagos Islands) often harbored distinct, but closely related, species on each island)o Common ancestor, migrants move to different islandso God made it that way Vestigial structures (e.g.. whale pelvis & femure, human coccyx) are recognizable as sucho Vestigial- left over, reduced structureso Coccyx- tailbone- why do we have one? 4 or 5 bones Why? Got tail from common ancestor or God made us that way. Universal biochemical pathways (e.g. glycolysis) Universal Genetic material (DNA) & nuclear genetic codeo Viruses- DNA as Genetic material, others are RNA as genetic material 8% of our genome is defunct virus DNA. For this class, viruses are not life.o How to turn 3 nucleotides into genetic code Universal protein synthetic machinery & processeso (DNA >> mRNA >> protein) DNA transcribed into RNA- RNA into protein- Occurs in all life forms! Artificial selection in lab & agricultural practiceso Us doing the selecting- we have been doing this for thousands of years! Farm animals Domesticated animals- we caused that change. Plants- same way- Pick out what characteristics you want, do some crosses, get some offspring.o Individuals that have accentuated characteristics and breed them.o Makes natural selection PLAUSIBLE! Small scale changes can be observed in natureo Peter Finch- changes in turtles in the Galapagos islandsAll of these phenomena ABOVE can be explained by both evolutionary theory and special creationE.G. Descent of all living organisms from a common ancestor combined with heritable change over time (evolutionary theory) can account for the above observations. This view of world is based on evidence (observations) What is science and what it isn’tVS. Special creation explanation, i.e., one that implies an all powerful being, not being limited by natural laws as we understand them now, created the universe from nothing along with the above mentioned biological similarities. This view of the world is based on belief (faith) rather than evidence.) These are two views on the explanationSo, are both explanations equally valid for presentation in a science classroom? Intelligent design- almost made it into science curriculum in schools. One of