Was Darwin Wrong?

latch ong flockg puff outg send back of Contents Introduction Who was Charles Darwin? Charles Darwin was essential in 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Origin eachy, Darwin did not believe in the intellect of maturation and trained to be a priest before perusing geology and biology. In 1831, when Darwin was 22, he set bed sheet around the world on HMS Beagle, a naval survey ship. The trip lasted for 5 years during which eon the ship halt at numerous places including the Galapagos Islands, just mangle the west coast of South America. Darwin examined zoologys and plants from e realplace he visited, taking specimens back to England and arrangement his observations in a diary.However he was most intrigued by the finches on the Galapagos Islands What was Darwins Theory of Natural Selection? conduct variety Darwin noticed that in that location were ample genetic mutations in the finches size, beaks and claws. He resolved the beaks were designed for eating different things and concluded that the finches must(prenominal) take in evolved from just single species which had varietyd everywhere magazine. They had adapted to their surroundings. In order to experience to understand natural selection, it is important fuck how the many hund cherrys of thousands of financial backing organisms be classified.The diagram on the next rapscallion shows an face of how we correspond a species. harvest compile drawrect A species brook be defined as a sort out of organisms so similar they abide generate to tolerateher to form fertile publication. For prototype, a horse and a donkey advise breed to produce a scuff nevertheless the mule, is infertile therefore screening a horse and a donkey atomic number 18 of different species. Within a species there ar still differences and this variableness is very important in ontogenesis because without them, natural selection could not occur. interlingual rendition can be either genetic, surroundingsal or a combination of both.For example Variation ca utilise by genes includes eye nutrition working , gender Variation caused by the environment includes accent Variation caused by a combination of both includes high tune pressure, weight Nearly all variation is caused by a combination of these factors. some(prenominal) hoi polloi before Darwin thought close to ontogeny and most scientists agreed that vitality on cosmos started from a few, straightforward life things. Alfred Russel Wallace and Jean Baptiste de Lamarck both had ideas or so evolution, but Darwin was the first to come up with a plausible idea of how evolution happened.This is what he called Natural Selection and when he returned from his round the world trip, Darwin spent over twenty years working to register his possibility. Wallace wrote to him asking him for advice and together they wrote a reputation about evolution. To summarize, Darwins theory is basically Species veer over time. This is supporte d by the dodo record. All organisms s hare a common ancestor which justifys the similarities between organisms that are classified together. This is supported by cause of underlying organs and homologous structures ( expect page 6). Evolutionary change is gradual and slow.This is in addition supported by the fossil record. some some other crucial conclusion Darwin made, was that there are always going to be withal many of champion and all(a) species for each of them to survive. This is because they provide always be in arguing for food and space. He established that those topper suited to survive pass their genes onto their offspring, which causes their species to change over time and could lead to their nonextantion. drawframe drawframe drawrect drawframe drawrect drawrect drawframe drawframe drawrect Diagram to show the step in natural selection wherefore the tribe of a species changes over time drawframe In the higher up graph, the Canadian lynx eats the move h are. No other cat is so dependent on a private prey species. Two years afterward a inauguration in the travel hare nation, there is a rise in the lynx commonwealth. Then, the S straight offshoe hare population falls. When there are as well few Snowshoe hares for the lynx to survive, their population starts to fall as well. Because the predator population has now decreased, it allows time for the prey population to adjoin again. As there is now more than food, the predator population starts to increase again.This cycle repeats itself over and over. That is why we theorize there is a clear soma of interdependence between the deuce populations. What cause did Darwin Use? Fossil constitution A fossil is a dead plant, sentient being or other once-living thing that has been continue for millions of years and leaves an imprint in stone. most all fossils are from extinct species. Darwin used fossils to prove that evolution happened. He could determine the relative age of vari ous fossils by looking at the layers in the list and he could see the changes in one type of fossil.For example, by collecting many fossils of one animal, he could see how it had evolved over time. An animal may become extinct when there is a sudden change in their habitat for example food or temperature. A parvenu species can become either the predator or the prey of a species already living there, thus placing either species under attainable threat of extinction. The extinction of a species has an payoff on the food chain. Limitations of the Fossil Record There are gaps in the fossil record because the conditions were not always equal for fossils to develop.This meant that not every species was recorded as a fossil and sometimes a species would occur that had no link to a previous one. Also, because evolution happens over a long period of time and a great deal in sudden bursts, (these bursts could be up to 10,000 years apart) try of smaller changes were not recorded. Vesti gial Organs A un au indeedtic organ is one that has little or no use now, but was well developed in its ancestors exactly standardised our appendix. By looking at vestigial organs in modern species and eyesight if older species had used that organ, Darwin could determine how a species had changed over time.Homologous Structures Darwin also compared homologous structures which are dust parts that structurally similar in related species. If two or more different species have homologous structures, it shows that they have come from the analogous origin. For example, gorillas and homo-sapiens both have similar body features (hand, skulls ) illustrating that the two species have the very(prenominal) ancestors. Was Darwins theory accepted at the time? Darwins theory was widely jilted at the time because many people were creationists. This means they believe the creation report in the bible i. e. ll life was created in six days. Darwins theory of evolution challenged this view, b ut because there were gaps in the fossil record, it was hardto trace the changes in a species and convince people, therefore was very difficult. Also, the age of the earth was estimated by using the Bible to be about 6000 years old, but this did not seem long enough for evolution to have taken place. Finally, although Darwin knew certain features were passed on from generation to generation, he could not explain why (see later). What other theories were there? Lamarcks theory Lamarck had a different theory.He believed that by striving to fit into their surroundings, the animals bodies changed. According to his theory, the giraffe developed its long neck by stretchability it to reach the leaves on trees. Similar to other scientists he explained that life started with simple living things. However, he believed that at each generation, they became more complicated. His theory did not take account of the single celled life that still existed on Earth. Lamarck could see the changes in a species, but tried to explain it in a different way because he was terror-struck that people would not support the idea of natural selection.Mendels theory George Mendel was born in 1822. Because he was poor, he join a monastery, but also examine at the University of Vienna where he intimate to carry out scientific experiments. At the monastery he learned how to breed plants and one of his jobs was to create better varieties. He was very interested in how features were passed on from one generation to the next and he decided to crossbreed different pea plants to see what would happen. He crossed red flower plants with white and the resulting plants were all red. He then bred these plants together and this experiment returned mostly red but some white.Mendel concluded that there must be different versions of the same genes. What evidence has been obtained since Darwin? Peppered Moths Kettlewell studies of the 1950s During the industrial revolution, vitamin C (soot) coated tr ees in a aristocratic colour. The once dominant and well mask pale moths (typica) were now being replaced by the rarer darker moths (carbonaria). These moths continued grow in come and by 1895 they represented 98% of all moths in Manchester. Naturalists at this time suggested this was a result of the industrial activity on the local landscape and that the darker moths had a pick vantage.They had become so well camouflaged on trees they had stopped being eaten by birds, whereas the paler, typica species had now become clearly visible. The prevalent population had changed from the pale swart moth, to the darker coloured moth and this was another example of natural selection. In 1998, a scientist called Michael Majerus re-examined Kettlewells studies and concluded that the colour change in the moths is an example of natural selection, but predation by birds is only one factor not the repair factor.DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) and Genetics Francis Crick, a scientist from Cambrid ge inform in 1953, he and James Watson had appoint the secret of life the structure of D. N. A. D. N. A. is the material inside the nucleus of cells and carries the information of how organisms develop. It is copied when new cells are made, but can be damaged or changed, usually resulting in the death of the cell. Genes are passed on from parents to offspring ensuring that the most successful individuals survive. Variation is caused because of differences in genes.Bacterial antibiotic resistance sometimes a mutation in D. N. A. can be beneficial for the bacteria. For example bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics and this gives them an added advantage over non-resistant bacteria. Why I think that new evidence bequeath continue support Darwins theory I think that new evidence will continue to support Darwins theory for a number of reasons Advances in technology mean newer ways of discovering the prehistoric will become available As species evolve further, scientists will have etter records to get information from Now scientists know what they are looking for which provides evidence of evolution Overall, I agree with the scientific belief at once that natural selection is the mechanism which leads to adaption and miscellany whilst genetics provide the mechanics for traits to be inherited Bibliography