Organic Evolution

Organic Evolution
• Evolution is descent with modification
• Organic Evolution is the origin of new species of animals
and plants from ancestors who previously lived on the
earth.
• There are two different types of development, viz.,
ontogeny, and phylogeny.
• "Ontogeny" is primarily concerned with the history of
development of individual organisms.
• "Phylogeny" deals with the evolution of a genetically
related group of organisms, in contrast to the development
of the individual organism.
 Pre Darwinian Phase
• In the fourth century B.C., Theophrastus, a Greek, has
written a book on seed germination.

• Some early Greeks believed that heredity among humans

was a question of which sex dominated in the sex act.

• Preformation - Every organism must therefore contain in its

reproductive organs an infinite series representing all of its
future descendants”.

• Ovists believed the female possessed this future of the

series, and the spermists insisted it was the male.
 Pre Darwinian Phase
• Linnaeus suggested a two‐layered theory, which held that
‘‘the outer layer including the vascular system is derived
from the father, the inner layer including the nervous
system comes from the mother’’.

• That plants lacked sexuality was the conventional wisdom

of the day.

• End of the seventeenth century - the presence of sex organs

in plants demonstrated by Rudolph Camerarius.

• Hybridization experiments, finally culminated in Universal

Law of Genetics by Mendel
Theory of Inheritance of Acquired
Characters
• Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
• Modifications which the organism acquires in
adaptation to the environments which it meets
during its life time are automatically handed down
to its descendants and so become part of heredity.
• "Philosphie Zoologique" - 1809
 Lamarckism
Four propositions

1. Living organisms and their component parts tend

continually to increase in size.

2. Production of a new organ result from new need and from

the new movement which this need starts and maintains.

3. If an organ is used constantly, it will tend to become highly

developed, whereas disuse results in degeneration.

4. Modification produced by the above principles during the

life time of an individual will be inherited by its offspring.
 Lamarckism
• Lamarck believed that organic changes seen in animals are a
result of the influence of environment on gradual changes of
species due to their tendency to become more and more perfect.

• Ex. Long neck of Giraffe, blindness in moles, webbed feet of the

duck

• Lamarckian theory was simple and it had some appeal as it

provided a way in which changes in organisms could come
about.

• It was the first complete comprehensive theory that was offered.

• Thus, Lamarckian theory enjoyed popular acceptance for about

70 years, because it was exemplified by many common examples.
 Critical Analysis of Lamarckism
• All four propositions fail the test of empirical validity

• Experiments disproved Lamarckism – August Weismann

 Darwinism
• Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace
• 1859 – “Origin of Species & the Preservation of
Favored Races in the Struggle for Life”
• Theory of Natural Selection
• "The change in species by the survival of an
organismal type exhibiting a natural variation,
that gives it an adaptive advantage in an
environment, thus leading to new environment
equilibrium, is evolution by natural selection".
 Darwinism
Five Postulates
1. Universal occurrence of variation
2. Excessive natural rate of multiplication
(prodigality)
3. Struggle for existence
4. Survival of the fittest
5. Inheritance of variation
 Critical Analysis
• A veritable storm broke out with the publication of this
book

• Was opposed primarily on ethical and religious grounds

• “Survival of the Fittest” – erroneously interpreted by people

as “tooth and claw”, “kill or be killed” kind of struggle

• Led to rationalizations likes “every man for himself” in

social and economic lives – materialistic doctrine

• Greatest weakness – did not account for inheritance –

pangenesis hypothesis – disproved by Galton
 Critical Analysis
1. Talks about survival of the fittest but not arrival of the
fittest

2. Overspecialization in certain organisms – cannot

rationalize with natural selection

3. Natural selection did not account for degeneration

4. Dilution

5. Indirectly accepted Lamarckism – inheritance of acquired

characters
 Post Darwinian Phase
• Between later 19th and early 20th century – a number of
important ideas were forwarded to explain inheritance

• Discovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance by Correns and

Tschemark

• Wagner – role of geographical isolation in speciation

• Hugo de Vreis – Mutation theory

• Research in population genetics proved that Darwin’s

struggle for existence between individuals is not a very
significant force in evolution
 Post Darwinian Phase
• Unit of evolution is recognized as POPULATION
and NOT INDIVIDUAL as Darwin believed
• What is a Population? A group of individuals
living within a circumscribed area and
interbreeding
• The next larger unit of population in nature is the
species, composed of a series of inter‐breeding
demes.
 The Modern Synthesis
• All the modern understandings in cytology, genetics,
cytogenetics, population genetics, and evolution gave a
way for the formulation of a coherent theory called
“Modern Synthesis” around 1930s'

• S. Wright, H.J. Muller, Th. Dobzhansky, R.B. Goldschmidt,

J.S. Huxley, R.A. Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane, Ernst Mayr and G.L.
Stebbins, Simpson

• It is a “synthesis” of “mutationist” and “selectionist”

views of evolution
 What is Evolution?
Evolution is a two stage process

1. Production and redistribution of variation

2. Action of natural selection on variation

• Evolution is defined as change in the allelic frequencies in

a gene pool of a given population from one generation to
the next
• The gene pool is the sum total of all the allelic genes in a
population
 Unit of Evolution
• Alleles – variants of a gene

• Variation in population – because of the presence of alleles

and their inheritance

• The allele frequencies refer to only the whole group of

individuals i.e. populations.

• Individuals do not have allelic frequencies; they have the

genes or the combination of these genes – genetic
composition is fixed

• Therefore, an individual cannot evolve; only a group of

individuals – a population – can evolve over time.
 Macro & Micro Evolution
• Evolution is an incredibly common phenomenon and may
occur between every generation

• Over a period of time, the relative proportions of alleles in

the population will change, some may increase, and some
decrease and still others may remain the same.

• Over a short run of just a few generations, such changes in

inherited traits may be only very small, but over a very long
period of time, they may produce spectacular kind of
adaptations and whole new variety of life

• Microevolutionary and macroevolutionary changes

 Factors producing variations
1. Mutations

2. Migrations

3. Genetic Recombination

4. Genetic Drift / Random Drift / Sewall Wright Effect

 Role of Natural Selection
• What enables populations to adapt to environment? –
Natural Selection

• Genetic variations are created by mutations, migrations etc.

• Some of these variations influence reproductive success

(number of offspring successfully raised)

• If, as a result of genetic variation, some individuals

contribute more offspring to the next generation than the
others, it is the role of natural selection

• Thus, natural selection is differential net reproductive

success
 Role of Natural Selection
• How do populations adapt?
• A result of natural selection is a change in allele frequency
relative to specific environmental factors
• Such a functional shift in allele frequencies is called
adaptation
• Unit of selection is individual: It is individuals who reproduce
or do not reproduce and who continually attempt to maximize
their own reproductive success.

• Extinction: If the total reproductive success of all members of a

population continuously falls below replacement value (where
more individuals die than are born in a generation) the
population will become extinct.
 Levels of Natural Selection
• Directional Selection – When environment is
slowly and gradually changing in one direction
• Stabilizing Selection – When environment is stable
• Diversifying Selection – Extreme selection when
drastic changes occur in environment
 Evolution at Species Level
• A species is defined as a group of interbreeding organisms
that are reproductively isolated and, therefore, cannot
successfully interbreed with other groups (species).

• A species is composed of subunits that are breeding

communities, which we have already defined as
populations.

• All members of a species can potentially interbreed, and

some degree of interbreeding (migration) is theoretically
possible between all populations of that species.
 Evolution at Species Level
• The net result of all forces of evolution acting on all
populations determines the fate of the species as a whole.

• If sustained over a long period of time, gradual changes in

allele frequencies between member populations can
eventually lead to sufficient genetic differences, so that
fertile reproduction is no longer possible.

• We then may recognize a new form of life having arisen

from one species “splitting” and producing new species, a
process called speciation.
 Isolation & Speciation
• A number of isolation mechanisms may also prevent
organisms from interbreeding amongst each other
• Geographic isolation
• Behavioral isolation
• Mechanical isolation

• Reproductive isolation is thus an important force that

maintains biodiversity

• It also contributes to formation of new species by

preventing interbreeding of two populations of the same
species
 Summary
• Variation
• Mutations
• Recombinations
• Migrations
• Drift

• Natural Selection and Isolation act on variations

• Speciation and extinction

 Basic Concepts in
Evolutionary Biology
Convergence
• Similar evolutionary development in unrelated organisms
or those that differ in direct ancestry
• Could be similar characteristics or adaptations
• Ex. Flying habits of humming bird and humming moth –
common search for nectar in flowers – hovering over flower
• Convergence ordinarily applies to one or two characteristics
and not the overall makeup of organisms
• Only rods in retina – deep sea fish, bats, some lizards,
lemurs
 Basic Concepts in
Evolutionary Biology
Parallelism

• If convergence is similar evolutionary behavior in

organisms which are unrelated in ancestry…

• Parallelism is similar adaptations in organisms which share

common ancestry

• The term is usually applied to two species of organisms that

were similar in origin, and that remained similar as they
evolved into two different species.

• Ex. Old World Monkeys & New World Monkeys –

separated 35 million years ago from a prosimian ancestor
 Basic Concepts in
Evolutionary Biology
Homology & Analogy
• Organs which are similar in origin and not function are
homologous
• Ex. Forearms of vertebrates – Forelimbs of vertebrates
• Organs which are similar in function and not origin are
analogous
• Ex. Wings of birds and wings of insects
• Serial Homology – two structures within the same
organism
• Ex. Hands and Legs in man
Homology
Analogy
 Basic Concepts in
Evolutionary Biology
Adaptive Radiation
• The evolutionary spread and differentiation of the
descendants of one type of animal, of whatever level of
classification
• Opposite of convergence and parallelism where different
organisms arrive at common adaptation, radiation refers to
the way a species evolves into progressively dissimilar
organisms
• Mammals – Arial, arboreal, cursorial, fossorial, aquatic etc.
• Ex. Primates exhibit radiation in body size, group size,
brain size etc.
 Basic Concepts in
Evolutionary Biology
• Dollo’s Law – Doctrine of Irreversibility of Evolution –
Whales?

• Cope’s Rule – Lamarck's First principle

• Gause’s Principle – Principle of Competitive Exclusion – if

two organisms occupy the same trophic level in the
ecosystem, they try to reach equilibrium through different
strategies reducing the other to point of extinction

• Mosaic Evolution – Evolution of parts and not wholes –

Hominization – Bipedalization followed by Encephalization