Scribd
Upload
25 views

Evolution

Evolution is defined as the development of more complex organisms over millions of years through structural and behavioral modifications that allow organisms to better cope with environmental changes. Early theories of evolution included the idea that organisms do not change over time, that organisms were created by God, and that major catastrophes caused new species to emerge. Lamarck proposed that organisms could pass on traits acquired from the environment to offspring, but this theory was disproven. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection proposed that individuals vary, environmental pressures select which individuals survive and pass on beneficial traits, and over generations new species emerge. He provided evidence from observations of Galapagos finches to support this theory.

Uploaded by

temmy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
25 views

Evolution

Evolution is defined as the development of more complex organisms over millions of years through structural and behavioral modifications that allow organisms to better cope with environmental changes. Early theories of evolution included the idea that organisms do not change over time, that organisms were created by God, and that major catastrophes caused new species to emerge. Lamarck proposed that organisms could pass on traits acquired from the environment to offspring, but this theory was disproven. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection proposed that individuals vary, environmental pressures select which individuals survive and pass on beneficial traits, and over generations new species emerge. He provided evidence from observations of Galapagos finches to support this theory.

Uploaded by

temmy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

*Evolution*

Evolution is defined as the development of more complex organisms from an already existing
simpler organism(s) over a long period of time; often million(s) of years.. Plants and animals are
believed to have undergone considerable changes over a prolonged period of time. These
changes are seen in the great differences and similarities among plants and animals existing on
earth. New species of organisms continuously develop from earlier ancestral species by way of
structural and behavioural modifications to cope with changes in the environment. Several
species of organisms also become extinct in the continual process of change occurring in
nature. The concept of evolution explains the overall gradual development which occurs in an
orderly and sequential way in living organisms.

*Pre-Darwinian Theories of evolution*

For a very longtime, people had always speculated about the origin of life. These speculations
are grouped into three major theories as follows:

(a) *Theory of Eternity of the present condition*


This theory suggested that there is no beginning or ending to the universe. According to this
theory, the living organisms found on earth today have existed for several millions of years and
would remain unchanged throughout eternity.

(b) *Theory of special creation*


This theory was preached by religious bodies as a result of the account of the creation of plants,
animals and everything in this world by God. The theory states that all living organisms were
created by God (divine creation)

(c) *Theory of catastrophism*


This theory recognised worldwide catastrophes which brought about the death of animals in the
past. The death of these animals on a massive scale give rise to a new set of animals which
occurred over millions of years due to changes in environmental conditions.

*Lamarck's Theory of Evolution*


Lamarck was a French scientist who lived between1744 and 1829. He put forward an evolution
theory known as Lamarckism or the theory of use and disuse. This theory suggested that
characteristics acquired by organisms due to environmental changes can be inherited.
Explanation of Lamarckism is as follows:
(a) changes in the environment create some needs in organisms.
(b) to satisfy these needs, organisms develop some organs.
(c) continuous use of the organs develop them more in size.
(d) organs that were not used degenerate.
(e) the newly developed organs acquired by the organisms are inherited by their offsprings.
Lamarck explained that the long neck of giraffes was caused by generations of neck stretching
to browse the tops of shrubs and trees in the absence of short grasses. The major objection to
this theory of use and disuse is that acquired characters are not inheritable otherwise, a man
that lost one of his hands in a major accident would continue to produce one-handed children.

*Darwin's Theory of Evolution*


This theory of evolution by natural selection was put forward by an English scientist, Charles
Darwin (1809-1882) and it became the most widely accepted of the evolution theories. Charles
Darwin not only supported the fact of tge evolution with powerful evidence, but also explained
the mechanism of evolution. He sailed round the world in a ship known as H.M.S Beagle
between1831-1836, observed and collected a sorted types of living organisms. In 1835, while
on the Galapagos island (situated 900km west of Ecuador, South America), Darwin observed
variations in some birds known as finches. The finches on the mainland, unlike those of the
island, were all of one type having short straight beaks for crushing seeds. The finches on the
Galapagos island were of thirteen species categorised into six main types, each with a beak
specifically adapted for dealing with a particular kind of food. Darwin thought that the Galapagos
finches migrated from the mainland of South America. While on the island, the birds became
adapted to feeding on different types of food and this caused differences in the structure of their
beaks. This is a good example of adaptive radiation. *Adaptive radiation* is the evolution of an
animal or plant group into a wide variety of types adapted to specoealized mode of life. It was
assumed that the ancestral stocks to the Galapagos finches migrated from the mainland and in
the absence of competition, they evolved to fill all the empty ecological niches which was
occupied on the mainland by other species of birds.

In 1859, Darwin published his theory of evolution by natural selection in a book titled "on the
origin of species by means of natural selection". The book gave documented evidence in
support of evolution. Darwin postulated that _individuals of a species differ from each other in
the degree to which they are suited to their environment_. The poorly adapted individuals
become extinct while the well adapted ones survive. The surviving individuals pass on their
beneficial characteristics to their offsprings. This is the meaning of natural selection; when
nature selects the fit and rejects the unfit.

The summary of the book published by Darwin is as follows:


(1) Organisms tend to reproduce far above the number that survive; thus maintaining the size of
their population at a fairly constant level.
(2) Members of a population continuously struggle for existence due to increased population.
(3) The fittest individuals in a population will survive while the unfit are eliminated through death.
(4) The fittest individuals pass on their favourable characteristics to the next generation.
(5) There is difference in the contribution of different members of a species to succeeding
generations.
(6) Not all variations observed in members of a species are inheritable.

The concept of natural selection put forward by Darwin is summerized thus:


(1) Variations occur in the individuals of a population.
(2) The environment acted upon the variations.
(3) Those individuals organisms whose variations enable them to be better adapted to the
environment are selected by nature.
(4) The selected organisms would have more offsprings in the next generation than the unfit
individuals.
(5) The increase in the population of the selected individuals in relation to the unfits will
standardize the characteristics of that variations for the species.

You might also like