Darwin and Evolution Key AWL to Study Lowfrequency

Darwin and Evolution Key: AWL to Study, Low-frequency Vocabulary Who is Charles Darwin? What is evolution?

1831– 1836: Voyage of Exploration • Darwin traveled on the Beagle. Ø knew the Earth was very old Ø knew fossils represented extinct species Ø knew living organisms were related in groups Where did Darwin travel on his voyage of exploration?

Ambitious Naturalist • Darwin knew that whoever solved the problem of how new species originated would become famous. Would you like to explore the natural world like Darwin? Explain.

Darwin’s Journal: 1838 • Natural selection is a process. Ø Traits that enhance survival become progressively more common in successive generations. Ø These animals reproduce more. Ø These traits become more pronounced. How does natural selection work to form a new species?

Discoveries • Process of natural selection explains the origin of adaptation. Ø When adaptations are combined with geographical separation, this could explain the origin of species. How does natural selection explain the origin of adaptation?

A Controversial Idea • Darwin feared enormous consequences. Ø did not publish for 20 years Ø gathered additional evidence Why was Darwin’s idea controversial?

Bombshell • A letter from Wallace Ø Wallace also had the idea of natural selection. If you were Darwin, what would you have done after receiving Wallace’s letter?

Darwin’s Reaction: Despair • He thought the honorable course of action would be to let Wallace publish alone. • Prominent friends encouraged Darwin to arrange for a joint publication. • Darwin and Wallace published back-to-back papers in 1858. What might have happened if Darwin hadn’t published at this time?

Working Rapidly • 1859: Darwin rushed to press with a book. Ø assembling materials, summarizing evidence and making interpretations Ø Darwin publishes The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Ø The first print run of the book sells out on the first day. Why do you think the book sold out?

A Sensation • The most controversial implication: Ø Humans descended from apes. • The book also explained the astonishing diversity and precise adaptation of living things. Why do you think the book was thought to be so controversial?

Darwin’s Words • To contemplate a tangled bank… Ø Ø plants of many kinds birds singing in the bushes insects flitting about worms crawling around Do you like to contemplate nature? Why or why not?

Darwin Reflects • Elaborately constructed forms, different from and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, are produced by laws. Ø Endless forms have been and are being evolved. Explain how certain laws have created the diversity of species.