BIO 400 - Darwin Exam Rated A+

BIO 400 - Darwin Exam Rated A+ What were 4 of Darwin's achievements? - Answer- 1. he made a convincing case for the reality of evolutionary change. (not the first but the first widely accepted among biologists-- change over was rapid ~ 10-20 yrs) 2. He killed essentialism in biology 3. He presented a reasonable mechanism for evolution: Natural Selection (unlike Lamarck and Chambers who had god reason to think evolution happed but didn't provide good mechanisms) 4. He explained the apparent design and purpose in organisms in a natural way, and banished teleological explanation from biology. (movement of function from purpose) did Darwin have financial worries? - Answer- no. he inherited a lot of money and then duplicated it using investments. where did Darwin first study? - Answer- his father sent him to the university of Edinburg to study medicine, but he lacked interest and motivation. - Darwin was horrified by surgery and lectures - but he liked chemistry. while in Edinburg, what did Darwin become interested in? - Answer- Natural history and geology. he met Robert Grant, a zoologist and Lamarckian, and Robert Jameson, from whom Darwin took a naturalist course. what did Darwin try to do instead of medicine? - Answer- he tried to become apart of the clergy. at this time he was an enthusiastic Christina and his father thought it was a good idea because it was respectful. where did Darwin go in preparation for the clergy? - Answer- Cambridge. - he did not take the clergy seriously, but did read Paleys natural history which got him interested in functional biology. - he did pass Cambridge and was 10th in his class -- was set to become a country side priest what was Darwin's role on the beagle? - Answer- - he was called the ships naturalist but some doubt this as something he told his father. - possible that he was just the captains social companion -- naturalism could have just been the hobby not the profession why did Captains need social companions? - Answer- at this time captain would not interact with the crew much due to intellectual gaps and different classes -- high suicide rates. Who did Darwin Marry and where did they live? - Answer- married to Emma Wedgewood and moved to the Down House in London. While in London what books did Darwin publish? - Answer- 1. The Voyage of the Beagle 2. a five-volume work on the vertebrates he had collected 3. the Structure and Distribution on Coral Reefs. what kind of Scientist did Darwin largely consider himself as? - Answer- a Geologist, not a biologist - his first scientific book was on the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. how was Darwin's health after his trip on the Beagle? - Answer- - his health deteriorated and remained poor the rest of his life. He suffered stomach upset, vomiting, trembling, boils, palpitations and anxiety in times of stress. what was suggested as possible causes for Darwin's sickness? - Answer- - never diagnosed 1. Chagas' disease -- spread by a protozoan that is transmitted form a beetle that he recorded as biting him (the symptoms line up but the timeline doesn't) 2. Crohn's disease 3. Some believe the disease was psychosomatic as he was very apprehensive of conflict and was terrified of the response to his ideas. what were Darwin's researches at Down House? - Answer- 1. Barnacles -- 8 years 2. Evolution, including human evolution 3. Earthworms 4. Animal behavior (expressions of emotion) 5. Insectivorous plants 6. Plant reproduction 7. Domesticated plants and animals, and their variation. how long before the publication of the origin of the species did Darwin begin thinking about evolution? - Answer- 23 years what influenced Darwin's work on evolution? - Answer- primary observations by himself, or by others. - not the ideas of prior evolutionary thinkers. What convinced Darwin that evolution occurs? - Answer- in July 1837 -- Darwin began a notebook on species transmutation. The observations and material he had gathered on his voyage convinced him that evolution occurs -- he did not have a revelation about evolution until AFTER he returned from his voyage. - he observed finches on the Galapagos islands and started thinking about migration and evolution. what did Darwin search for a cause for? - Answer- searched for a cause of evolutionary change. he wondered what natural phenomenon could select for certain inherited traits the way artificial selection could. - he needed a natural process that lead to differential survival of different kinds of offspring. what did he decide this cause was? - Answer- - adaptation to the environment -- he called it natural selection or contrast artificial selection. it suggested that pressure will push adaptation in one direction and realized there will be a struggle within and between species as all animals have excess capacity for reproduction. first Darwin wrote his evolutionary ideas in a manuscript, then in an Essay -- but why did Darwin keep this essay a secret? - Answer- - hypothesis -- it was to short and he wanted it to be longer. - maybe he wanted to become a world expert in biology before he published such a radical idea - same year as Chambers vestiges was published, and didn't want to be the centre of arguments - probably that that his reputation as a naturalist should be more pronounced before publishing. what did Darwin study instead of evolution for 8 years? - Answer- he had an 8-year period of work on barnacles - he discovered and named many new species. who encouraged Darwin to publish? - Answer- Lyell and Hooker. - was worried that he might be scoped Hooker = convinced Lyell = not convinced but thought evolutionary ideas were important Who scooped Darwin? - Answer- Alfred Russel Wallace, an English Naturalist living in Indonesia, wrote a brief outline of evolution by natural selection and sent it to Darwin for his opinion, unaware that Darwin had been working on the same issue. Explain Russel Wallace's observations - Answer- he observed the Wallace line. which represents a discontinuity of the flora and fauna past a specific area. he wasn't able to explain this line but did establish its existence. (now understand it was an effect of continental drift) -- Darwin realized he had been scooped in his idea about evolution. What did Darwin do in response to Russel Wallace? - Answer- he consulted his friends Hooker and Lyell who encouraged him to arrange for three papers to be read to a meeting of the Linnaean society. what 3 papers did Darwin have read in response to Russel Wallace's 'scoop'? - Answer- 1. A five-page summary of Darwin's ideas (written by Darwin for this occasion) 2. A copy of Darwin's letter to Asa Gray from 1857, to show he had not stolen Wallace's ideas 3. Wallace's paper, "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely form the Original Type", 12 pages. Was Wallace upset for Darwin's reaction? - Answer- not at all. He recognized that Darwin was on to it long before he was. what did Darwin Abandon for the Origin of the Species? - Answer- Darwin abandoned Natural Selection (a 1000-page book he had begun writing) and began writing a shorter presentation of his ideas, the Origin of the Species. It was written in 15 months, during a period of very bad health. - he could only work on it 2-3 hrs/ day.