Strand 4.

EVOLUTION
4.1 Origin of an Idea About Origins
Development of the Theory of Evolution

What is Evolution?

• Evolution: the gradual change or development of something.

• Biological evolution: the change in the gene pool of a population over time through mutation,
natural selection and genetic drift.
• Biological evolution = descent with modification — covers micro-evolution (within a species)
and macro-evolution (descent of different species from a common ancestor).

Why is Biological Evolution Important?

• It is the unifying concept and foundation for understanding all of Biology.

• It supports and explains many aspects of everyday life.
• It challenges people to think for themselves.

How Did Life Originate?

• Current scientific consensus: there was a single origin of life, supported by all life sharing the
same genetic code and similar basic enzymes.
• Life appeared on earth very early, approximately 3.7 mya.
• Darwin's ideas on evolution do not attempt to explain the origin of life itself.

A. Before 1700 — Scientific Beliefs

• Species were unrelated and remained unchanged — fixed since creation by a divine
power.
• The earth was young — thought to be only ~6 000 years old and static.

B. 1700 to Early 1800 — Changing Ideas

Thinkers including Erasmus Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck began to challenge fixed-species
beliefs through fossil evidence and the study of living organism diversity.
• Species had changed gradually over time.
• The earth was millions of years old, not thousands.

Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802)

Occupation Country doctor, scientist, philosopher, inventor, poet and author.
Key idea Life on earth descended from a common ancestor; species must have
changed over time.

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 Limitation Offered no mechanism for how 'transformation' (evolution) occurred.
Key work Zoonomia (1794, 1796)

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1774–1829)

Occupation French naturalist.
Key work Philosophie Zoologique (1809).
Core claim Species were not fixed — they changed as a natural, not divine,
phenomenon.

Lamarck's Evidence That Species Changed

• Living species differ from fossil types, so life-forms must have changed over time.
• Domestication and selective breeding resulted in animals and plants changing.
• Cross-breeding of plant species often led to new characters appearing.

Lamarck's Hypothesis — How Change Occurred

• Use and disuse of body parts: organs used more increase in size/efficiency; organs not
used shrink and disappear. The environment causes the organism to actively adapt.
• Inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarckism): physical changes acquired by a
parent during its lifetime are passed to offspring, causing populations to change and new
species to form.

Lamarck's Giraffe Example

• Short-necked ancestors stretched necks to reach higher leaves → longer necks acquired →
longer necks passed to offspring → progressively longer necks evolved over generations.

Was Lamarck Correct?

• Correct: the environment can
produce phenotypic changes in an
individual.
• Incorrect: acquired characteristics
cannot be inherited — changes to
the phenotype do not alter the
genotype of egg/sperm cells, so the
characteristic is not heritable.
• Genetics and gene transfer were
unknown until the 1930s (Mendel's
work, late 1800s).

Summary — Erasmus Darwin &

Lamarck Agreed That:
• Species have common ancestors.
• Evolution occurred as species adapted to their environment.

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 C. Early 1800 to Early 1900 — An Acceptable Mechanism

A convincing mechanism for evolution was provided by the work of Charles Darwin and Alfred
Russel Wallace.

Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

Background Began formulating theories in the late 1830s after a 5-year expedition
on the HMS Beagle to the southern hemisphere.
Observations Visited many countries and islands; documented geology,
biogeography and fossils.
Key publication The Origin of Species (1859).

What Darwin's Data Revealed

• Immense diversity among organisms: both living and extinct.
• Variation of individuals within the same species, suggesting species were not
unchangeable.
• Often puzzling distribution of different species across countries with similar climates.
• The earth is extremely old: allowing time for species to evolve (evidenced by fossil changes
across sedimentary rock layers).
• Great geological change: different areas and land masses became isolated over time.
• Isolation leads to species changing. Darwin worked ~25 years developing this theory after
returning to England.

Darwin's Two Key Hypotheses

• 1. Modification with descent (evolutionary change): species diversity is the result of
evolution; species modified gradually from ancient ancestors.
• 2. Natural selection: individuals best adapted to the environment leave the most offspring.
This was Darwin's greatest scientific contribution.

Darwin's Explanation of Descent with Modification

• All related organisms descended from a common ancestor.
• Ancestral species spread into new habitats; by adapting to local conditions they diversified into
new species over millions of years.
• Diversification was by branching: ancestral species gave rise to two or more related
species, each in a new habitat.
• Some species died out (became extinct): visible in the fossil record.
• Darwin rejected Lamarck's 'arrow of complexity': he preferred diversification by branching, like
a tree with a trunk and branches.
•

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913)

Background British naturalist, collector of wildlife specimens and author.
Field work Studied the Malay archipelago in the late 1850s — organisms in the
north-west (Sumatra/Java) resembled Asian species; those in the
south-east (New Guinea) resembled Australian species.

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 Conclusion Ancestors of modern species became isolated by water and evolved
differently despite living in similar climates.

Darwin and Wallace — Key Co-incidence

• Both independently read Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population (1797) —
competition and struggle for existence between members of a population.
• This independently led both men to the same idea: natural selection as the mechanism of
evolution.
• Wallace sent Darwin his paper in 1858; they published a joint paper the same year.
• Darwin then completed The Origin of Species, published 1859.
• Both share credit for discovering natural selection; Darwin gained greater popular credit for
developing it in more detail.

Acceptance of Darwin's Ideas

• Evolutionary descent from common ancestors was accepted by most scientists within a few
decades.
• Natural selection had a harder time: many late-1800s 'Darwinists' preferred a Lamarckian
explanation.
• Discovery of genes and mutations in the 20th century made natural selection a realistic
explanation.

Grade 10 Recap — Key Background Facts

• Universe started 13.7 bya: Big Bang is the most widely accepted theory.
• The earth is 4 550 million (4.6 billion) years old.
• Earth's crust built up in layers: by water (sedimentary rocks) or volcanic activity. Oldest
layers at the bottom.
• Dating fossils: relative dating and radiometric (absolute) dating determine the age of rock
layers and fossils within them.
• At least five mass extinctions: 250 mya: 90% of life disappeared; 65 mya: dinosaurs
disappeared.

What Studying Fossils Tells Us

• About ancient forms and the appearance and extinction of organisms: from individual species
to whole taxonomic groups.
• Life-forms changed and gradually became more similar to present-day life-forms.
• Evidence that species have undergone evolution.

South Africa's Important Fossil Finds

• Earliest organisms (3.5 bya): stromatolites (fossilised Cyanobacteria) = Barberton,
Mpumalanga.
• Primitive land plants: Glossopteris fern leaves = KwaZulu-Natal.
• Coelacanth = a fish group ancestral to amphibians.
• Mammal-like reptiles = bridge between reptiles and mammals - Karoo.

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 • Humankind's earliest direct ancestors: Australopithecus africanus and Homo ergaster -
Sterkfontein Caves, Cradle of Mankind.

Evidence for the theory of evolution

Eight Lines of Evidence for Evolution

• 1. Fossil records
• 2. Biogeography
• 3. DNA (genetics) and molecular biology
• 4. Homologies and comparative anatomy
• 5. Embryology
• 6. Vestigial organs
• 7. Biodiversity
• 8. Physiology

Using a combination of these sources, scientists have been able to:

• Develop detailed histories of the evolution of life forms.
• Demonstrate the evolutionary relationships among organisms that are currently alive (extant).

While evolution is accepted as fact, the mechanisms by which it occurs are only partly understood
and are still being researched and expanded upon.

1. Fossil Evidence Indicates That Evolution Has Occurred

• Fossils are a significant source of evidence: known as palaeontological evidence, showing

both micro-evolution and macro-evolution.
• Palaeontology = the study of prehistoric life.
• The rock record is 3.5 billion years old = long enough for even the most improbable rare
mutations to have occurred repeatedly and for biological evolution to have taken place.
• Radiometric dating dates the rocks and therefore the age of fossils within them.

How Does Fossil Evidence Show Evolution Occurred?

• Fossil records provide detailed information and evidence of systematic change through time
— of descent with modification. Different fossils are found in different rock layers, with the
oldest fossils in the oldest layers.
• Modern species can be traced back through time as they show similarities with fossil species
that became extinct hundreds of thousands of years ago.

What Can Be Seen in the Fossil Record?

• a. Increase in complexity: simplest organisms appeared first.
• b. Increase in diversity.
• c. More extinct species as one moves back in time.
• d. Intermediate (transitional) forms between groups.
• e. Overall increase in size, from tiny unicellular organisms.

a. Increasing Complexity Over Time

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 • When the full range of fossils is arranged in order of age, a succession of changes is seen —
changes gradually accumulated over generations.
• Fossils of the simplest (earliest) organisms are found in the oldest rocks; progressively more
complex organisms are found in newer rocks.
• Simple organisms (e.g. bacteria, fungi, single-celled algae) are still around and thriving —
'simple' does not mean unsuccessful.

Sequence of Life Forms in the Fossil Record

Group / Organism Appeared (approx.)
Prokaryotes 3.6 bya — first group
(bacteria)
Simple eukaryotes ~1.5 bya
Multicellular ~600 mya
eukaryotes
Simple animals ~545 mya (Cambrian explosion)
(invertebrates) &
plants (algae)
Fish and land plants ~450 mya
(ferns)
Amphibians ~370 mya
Reptiles and cone- ~310 mya
bearing plants
(gymnosperms)
Birds ~150 mya
Mammals and ~65–100 mya
flowering plants
(angiosperms)
Modern humans ~0.3 mya
(Homo sapiens)

The Cambrian Explosion

• Beginning ~545 mya, a rapid diversification over only 5–10 million years led to a huge
diversity of complex, multi-celled organisms.
• Before this, most organisms were simple — individual cells occasionally organised into
colonies.
• The Cambrian period is when most modern major marine groups of animals first appear in the
fossil record.

b. Increase in Diversity
• Today there are an estimated 1.4–1.7 million species of plants, animals, fungi and micro-
organisms.
• The immense modern biodiversity has not always existed — the oldest fossil-bearing rocks
contain a small diversity of fossilised organisms; younger rocks show enormous diversity.

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 • Newer organisms descended from common ancestors, which adapted to a variety of
environments — after accumulating adaptations the ancestors formed, by branching, a variety
of modified descendants. This type of descent is known as cladogenesis.
• From fossil remains it is possible to see when new species arose and when ancestral species
became extinct.

Cladogram
• Cladogram = a family tree that shows evolutionary relationships (also called a phylogenetic
tree).
• The trunk represents the common ancestor; changes and division of species cause the
branches; recent further changes and division form closely related species (the twigs).
• Diversification into new genera and species occurred as a result of the development of
novelties or key innovations, e.g. bony skeleton, four limbs, amniotic egg, wings, hair, etc. in
vertebrates.

c. More Extinct Species as One Moves Back in Time

• Extinction is a natural phenomenon, extremely important in the history of life.
• Species become extinct because they have not adapted to changing conditions. New
species better adapted will survive and replace them, filling vacant niches. In turn, new
species also eventually die out, giving rise to yet later forms.
• A typical species becomes extinct within 1–10 million years of its first appearance.
• Living fossils: some species have survived virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of
years, e.g. the coelacanth.
• It is estimated that 99.9% of all species that have ever lived on earth are now extinct.
• Mass extinction events account for the large proportion of species that have become extinct,
but not all of them.

d. Intermediate Forms Between Groups: Transitional Fossils

• Transitional fossils have a mixture of traits that show a link between groups — often referred
to as 'missing links'.
• They suggest one group may have given rise to the other by evolutionary processes — further
evidence of modification by descent, showing evolution caught in the act.

Examples of Transitional Fossils

• Mammal-like reptiles: fossils found abundantly in the Karoo; intermediate between reptiles
and mammals.
• Archaeopteryx: a vertebrate with both reptilian and avian (bird) features; a well-known
transitional form.

Does Evidence from Fossils Provide Conclusive Proof of Evolution?

• The fossil record is somewhat biased and incomplete because:
– Very few individuals become fossils.
– Hard-bodied organisms are more likely to form fossils.
– Most fossils are of aquatic animals.
• Nevertheless, the fossils discovered give detailed information and evidence of regular change
through time, (i.e. descent with modification.)
• From this huge body of evidence it can be predicted that no reversals will be found in future
fossil studies, organisms will never appear in reverse order (e.g. amphibians will not appear

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 before fishes, nor mammals before reptiles, nor complex life before the oldest eukaryotic
unicellular organisms).

2. Evidence from Biogeography to Show Evolution Has Occurred

• Biogeography = the study of where species (both present-day and extinct) occur, and why.
• The conventional explanation that species had been created with adaptations to their
particular climate made no sense to Darwin or Wallace, they had noticed that different regions
with similar climatic conditions contained very different animals and plants.
• Darwin used biogeographical patterns as one of his principal proofs of his theory of evolution.

Evolutionary Patterns Observed by Darwin and Wallace

• 1. A clustering pattern of 'closely allied' species, closely related species inhabit
neighbouring patches of habitat:
– Within the same group of oceanic islands, e.g. the tortoises of the Galapagos.
– On the same continent, e.g. several species of zebras in Africa and two rhea species in
adjacent areas of South America.
• If species are descended from other species, it makes sense that closely related species
would be located nearby, the similar species having descended from a common ancestor.

• 2. Very different collections of plants and animals in regions of the same latitude with similar
climates and conditions:
– South America and Africa have the same major groups of mammals but not similar
species. Monkeys are split into Old World monkeys (OWM — narrow, downward-facing
nostrils) and New World monkeys (NWM — broad, outwardly directed nostrils). No OWM
has prehensile tails; some NWM do.
– Flightless birds: rheas (South America), ostriches (Africa), emus (Australia) — all three are
different species and must have originated from their own ancestor, as a common
flightless ancestor could not have migrated across the oceans.
– Large indigenous mammals of Australia are marsupials (e.g. koala bears, kangaroos);
almost all large mammals in South America and Africa are placental.
• Since similar environments can contain entirely different species groups, the organisms living
in these areas must have descended by modification from ancestors that were different in
each particular place.

• 3. Distribution of species on oceanic islands: particularly important in biogeography;

considered strong evidence of descent by modification:
– Within an archipelago, species while similar to each other differ slightly on each island.
– Island species are more closely related to species on the nearest mainland than to species
from other island groups, despite different environments.
– Oceanic islands = usually formed by volcanic action and are often geologically 'young'.

Mockingbird Distribution — Galapagos Example

• It was mockingbirds (not finches) that gave Darwin his ideas about evolution during his 6 400
km trip along the South American coast.
• Darwin saw only three species of mockingbird in Chile. Moving from one Galapagos island to
another (separated by just 80 km of water), he found two quite different species unique to
each island.
• These island species were closer in appearance to those on the nearest mainland than
anywhere else in the world.

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 • Darwin hypothesised the different Galapagos mockingbird species descended from mainland
species that had reached the islands in the past.
• The mockingbirds adapted to new conditions on each oceanic island and developed into new
species — showing evolution.
• The ocean acted as a barrier allowing birds to adapt differently to each island environment
and evolve into new species.

• 4. The biogeography of fossils = Darwin noted that fossils of extinct species closely
resembled living species that occurred in the same region. Two South American examples:
– Megatherium ('giant beast') = fossil ground sloth; closest living relative is the two-toed tree
sloth.
– The fossil armadillo ('little armoured one') = shows anatomical similarities with living
armadillo species in the same areas.
• These examples show that modern species replaced and evolved from fossil forms.

• 5. Wallace's Line: first identified by Russel Wallace in the late 1850s. An imaginary line that
bisects the Malay archipelago into two parts: north-western (Sumatra and Java) and south-
eastern (New Guinea, Sulawesi and Timor).
– Each part has different groups of living organisms despite similar climate and geology.
– Deep seaways that had always existed prevented migration of species between the
islands = the two different groups of organisms arose by descent by modification from
different ancestors on each side of the line.

Plate Tectonics and Biogeography

• Due to plate tectonics, the earth's crust is constantly changing as continental and oceanic
plates move = mountains rise and fall, and oceans form and disappear.
• These changes have greatly affected the distribution of organisms. As some became isolated
from each other, they evolved into different species.
• Example: Gondwanaland split into South America, Africa and Australia, explaining the current
distribution of marsupials and other organisms.

3. DNA (Genetics) and Molecular Biology Evidence

• All organisms share the same genetic code and similar basic enzymes — strong evidence of a
single common ancestor.
• The fewer DNA sequences shared, the more distant the relationship between two
species, and the further in the past the species diverged from a common ancestor.

Cytochrome c — A Key Example

• Cytochrome c is a protein molecule that serves a vital function in respiration within the cells of
all forms of life.
• In humans and chimpanzees, cytochrome c consists of the same 104 amino acids in exactly
the same order.
• It differs from the cytochrome c of:
– Rhesus monkeys — by one amino acid
– Horses — by eleven additional amino acids
– Tuna — by 21 additional amino acids
• This similarity shows how recent common ancestry was between humans and chimpanzees.
• The evidence from biogeography, palaeontology, homology and embryology drawn by Darwin
can be confirmed by molecular studies of chromosomal DNA and mtDNA (genetics).

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 4. Comparative Anatomy Evidence

• By comparing external and internal structures, scientists can find out how related two
organisms are — this is known as comparative anatomy and it provides evidence of
evolution.
• Organisms with similar structures or characteristics might have acquired these features from a
common ancestor and therefore are on the same evolutionary lineage — such features are
known as homologies.
• The number of shared homologous features between any one species and another
indicates how recently those two species diverged from a shared lineage.

Homologous Structures
• Homologous structures must be similar in fundamental structure, position and development.
They can be superficially different in appearance, e.g. flippers of whales and legs of a horse
have the same basic structure but do not perform the same function.
• A classic example is the pentadactyl forelimb of vertebrates, the same bones in the basic
pentadactyl forelimb have been used in many ways leading to divergent or adaptive radiation
along different evolutionary paths: frogs (amphibians), birds (aves), bats (mammals), people
(mammals), etc. All these animals shared a common ancestor that had the same bones.

Analogous Structures
• Analogous structures are similar in different organisms because they evolved in a similar
environment, rather than being inherited from a recent common ancestor.
• These structures usually serve the same or similar purposes. Comparative anatomists cannot
assume two organisms are related just because they have a similar structure — e.g. one
cannot say bats and insects share a common ancestor simply because both have wings.
• A closer look shows the bat wing is made of bone, flesh and feathers while the insect wing is
composed largely of non-living chitin. Bats and insects evolved their ability to fly along two
very separate evolutionary paths. These similar structures are the result of convergent
evolution.

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5. Embryology Evidence

• By studying the embryos of various organisms, marked similarities in structure can be seen
during the early stages of development.
• In vertebrates it is quite difficult to tell the difference between the early embryos of a fish, bird,
pig or a human, this supports the idea that these organisms came from a common
ancestor.
• All these early vertebrate embryos have:
– A nerve cord that becomes the spinal cord, surrounded by vertebrae forming the vertebral
column.
– Gill slits.
– A fish-like heart.
– A tail.
• With further development of the embryo, these fish-like features are lost and they grow less
similar, taking on the characteristics of the vertebrate group to which they belong.

6. Vestigial Organs Evidence

• Vestigial organs are structures or organs that seem to be stunted and have no function. They
are often homologous to organs that are useful in other species.
• Vestigial structures are probably the most easily convincing pieces of evidence for evolution
— organisms having vestigial structures must have shared a common ancestry with
organisms in which the homologous structure is functional.
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 • Example: A species of fish that lives solely in total darkness in caves has rudimentary,
stunted, non-functional eyes that cannot detect light. If this species was created as it is now,
'blind' eyes are hard to explain. They can only be explained if the species evolved from an
ancestral species that had functional eyes.

Examples of Vestigial Structures in Humans

• Tailbone (coccyx): homologous to the functional tail of other primates. Has little apparent
function in modern humans.
• Appendix: a narrow tube attached to the large intestine. In some plant-eating mammals it is a
functioning organ that helps to digest plant material. In humans it is considerably reduced in
size, serving only as a minor source of certain white blood cells that guard against infection.

Evolution — A Scientific Theory, Not Just a Hypothesis

Difference Between a Hypothesis and a Theory

• Scientific hypothesis: an idea or possible explanation about something observed that
suggests a question. It takes the form of a statement, e.g. 'If there are warm nights after
periods of rain then frogs will sing.'
• Hypotheses can be supported or disproved with experimentation or more observations — they
are testable ideas. They come and go by the thousands.
• Scientific theory: a general explanation of an important natural phenomenon with a reliable
body of evidence that has developed through extensive and repeated observations and
experiments to support it.
• A theory remains valid only if every new piece of information supports it. If not, the theory is
disproved.
• Peer review researchers = experts in the same field who look for weaknesses and errors and
make an unbiased evaluation of a piece of research.

A Theory Will Not Become Widely Accepted Unless Its Predictions:

• Can stand up to thorough and repeated testing.
• Are confirmed by more observations.
• Are confirmed by other independent peer review researchers.
• Have been published in peer-reviewed literature.

Why is Evolution a Theory and Not a Hypothesis?

• Evolution as a theory explaining the history of life on earth has been confirmed through
multiple lines of evidence — fossil record, biogeography, genetics, molecular biology,
homologies, etc.
• Initially, evolution would have been regarded as a scientific hypothesis until all the different
pieces of evidence had been carefully looked at, discussed, written about and thoroughly
tested. After these processes, evolution became an accepted theory.

Evolution — Science and Religion

• Before the theory of evolution was proposed, species were believed to be unchanging. All
forms of life were as the creator made them, and the world was believed to have been created
about 6 000 years ago.

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 • In the 1800s the work of the geologist Lyell showed the earth was in fact very old. This, with
Wallace and Darwin's explanation of evolution by natural selection, challenged these beliefs
and contradicted a literal interpretation of creation in various religious texts.

Key Points on Science and Religion

• Science deals with the material world. It investigates the physical and natural aspects of life
by using logical observations and experiments to draw conclusions.
• Religion is concerned with strongly held beliefs, morals (ethics), attitudes that one lives by,
and spiritual, philosophical and ethical 'why?' questions. Religious books are an ethical guide
for humanity, not a scientific treatise.
• Science and religion cannot be used to test each other — their goals, methods and
philosophies are far apart.
• Science and religion can be complementary rather than antagonistic.
• Science is an ongoing process pursued by observation and experimentation. This is not the
focus of religion, which is open to moral, ethical and philosophical interpretations.
• Science does not claim to know everything. It explains how life developed through evolution
but is still far from explaining the mystery of how life started.
• The theory of evolution explains how organisms developed into the wide diversity of forms that
we observe today.
• Free will is a characteristic of all human beings — we are in control of our destinies; where we
seek guidance is up to us.

Notes Worth Keeping in Mind

• Evolution is a well-established fact supported by multiple lines of evidence.
• While Darwin's ideas are correct, the mechanisms of evolution are only partly understood and
are still being researched and added to by modern science.
• Many respected scientists believe evolution could be the creator's way of planning the
development of living things.
• Many people today feel that science and religion are not only reconcilable but also
complementary — accounts of origin and development of life in religious texts can be
interpreted symbolically, not literally.
• Evolution is relevant and important today — e.g. antibiotic resistance, new HIV strains,
multiple-drug resistant TB.

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