TRACING AND EXPLAINING THE HISTORY HUGO
DE VRIES AND CHARLES DARWIN AND THEIR
THEORIES OF EVOLUTION
MODULE 19-20
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Describe the history of de Vries and Darwin
• Explore and describe the de Vries’ and Darwin’s
theories of evolution
CHARLES DARWIN
• born in England on February 12, 1809
• studied medicine at Edinburgh University but later switched
to divinity at Cambridge.
• he joined a 5 year scientific expedition on the survey ship
HMS Beagle as their geologist.
• He was the great English naturalist.
• His work mainly focused in understanding the life on the
Earth.
• Father of theory of evolution
CHARLES DARWIN’S WORK
• He wrote 20 books of different
volumes on nature including
Origin of species, Voyage of
Beagle.
• Thousands of letters.
• More than 200 articles
• Manuscripts.
DARWIN’S TRIP
• Dates: February 12th, 1831
• Ship: H.M.S. Beagle
• Destination: Voyage around the
world.
• Findings: evidence to propose a
revolutionary hypothesis about how
life changes over time
VOYAGE TO BEAGLE
• Darwin visited Argentina and Australia
which had similar grassland ecosystems.
• those grasslands were inhabited by very
different animals.
• neither Argentina nor Australia was
home to the sorts of animals that lived in
European grasslands.
VOYAGE TO BEAGLE
• Darwin collected the preserved remains of ancient
organisms, called fossils.
• Some of those fossils resembled organisms that were
still alive today.
• Others looked completely unlike any creature
he had ever seen.
• As Darwin studied fossils, new questions arose.
• Why had so many of these species
disappeared?
• How were they related to living species?
THE GALAPAGOS ISLAND
• Landed on Galapagos island on 15th September , 1835
• Important fauna for Darwin’s study: iguanas, giant tortoise and finches.
- Different islands of Galapagos with tortoise variable in looks and weight
- Iguanas on different island had variable appearance.
- The beak of finches and their feeding habit differ in islands of Galapagos.
THE SHAPE OF A TORTOISE'S SHELL COULD BE USED TO IDENTIFY WHICH ISLAND A
PARTICULAR TORTOISE INHABITED.
ANIMALS FOUND IN THE GALAPAGOS
• Land Tortoises
• Darwin Finches
• Blue-Footed Booby
• Marine Iguanas
DARWIN’S OBSERVATIONS DURING THE TRIP
• Adaptation of plants in the natural environment.
• Birth and survival of different species.
• Fossils of different species that got extinct.
• Fossils of species that have similarity to the existing species.
THE SIX MAIN POINTS OF
DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
Overproduction.
• Species have the ability to produce a large ability to produce a large number of offspring,
much more than can survive. According to him, organisms reproduce to excess.
• All species have a tendency and the potential to increase at a geometric rate.
• Species populations remain more or less constant (“stable”) because a small fraction of
offspring live long enough to reproduce.
• Most species produce far more offspring than are needed to maintain the population.
Example:
• Fish lay millions of eggs at a
time.
• Sea turtles: Lay from eggs
(depending on the species. On
average, 1 out of 100 survive to
be a full grown turtle.
COMPETITION
• Living space and food are limited, so offspring from each
generation must compete among themselves in order to live.
• Only a small fraction can possibly survive long enough to
reproduce.
• Due to overproduction, organisms of the same species, as well
as organisms of different species must compete for survival
needs such as food, water, mates and a place to live.
• INTERspecific competition -
Competition between 2 different
species.
(Ex. Cheetahs and Lions)
• INTRAspecific competition –
Competition between 2 of the
same species.
• (Ex. 2 male deer fight over 1
female deer).
NATURAL SELECTION
• Individuals in a species with traits that give them an advantage
are better able to adapt, survive and breed. Others die off
without leaving offspring.
• The environment selects organisms that survive to be the
parents of the succeeding generations. Favourable variations
are retained, while unfavourable ones get eliminated.
• Natural Selection does not move in a pre-determined
direction! The changing earth determines what will and can
survive.
VARIATIONS
• differences within populations that make every
individual different from other individual.
• No 2 individuals are exactly alike. These
variations are passed onto the next generation.
Ex: Differences for Homo sapiens (humans)
can be exact size or shape of body, strength
in running, or resistance to disease.
ADAPTATION
• An adaptation is an inherited
trait that increases an
organisms’ chance of survival
and reproduction in a given
environment.
SPECIATION
• Over many generations, favorable adaptations (in a particular
environment) gradually accumulate a in species and “bad” ones (in a
particular environment) disappear.
• Eventually, accumulated changes become so great, the result is a
new species.
• Formation of a new species is called “Speciation” and it takes many,
many generations to do.
HUGO MARIE DE VRIES
• a Dutch botanist and one of the first
geneticists.
• He is known chiefly for suggesting the
concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of
heredity in the 1890s while unaware of
Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the
term "mutation", and for developing a
mutation theory of evolution.
He postulates the following:
• Mutation is the cause of changes in the plant as well as
in other organisms.
• Mutation brings about the development of new species.
• Mutation can be the cause of evolutionary change.
• Organisms that exhibit these changes are known as
mutants.
MODERN THEORY OF EVOLUTION HUGO DE
VRIES – BOTANIST AND GENETICIST MUTATION
• Theory stated that “mutations are the ultimate source of
variation.” It was later indicated that recombination during
sexual reproduction and migration are also important factors.
• Individuals do not evolve but entire populations evolve if
genetic make-up of the whole population is varied. The key to
this is the importance of populations.