Notes for Evolution - The Triumph of an Idea - Chapter 1
Click link to return to Biology 404
Schedule
or ahead to Zimmer Chapter 2 or to Understanding
Evolution Chapter 1
General guide on these review questions here
Chapter 1 - Darwin and the Beagle
General Questions:
a) What ideas and attitudes influenced Darwin?
b) What previous explanations were available for explaining adaptations in organisms?
c) What previous explanations were available for explaining similarities among organisms?
d) Why were Darwin's geological observations important to his formulation of evolutionary hypotheses?
Introduction
Featured Scientist: Charles Robert Darwin
RQ Ev-1.1: Why did changing views of what fossils represent set the stage for Darwin's discoveries?
I. Introduction
II. In Search of Beetles and Respectability
RQ Ev-1.2: What most interested Darwin prior to his Beagle voyage?
III. The Lonely Captain
IV. Building the Earth
Key Terms: sedimentary rocks
RQ Ev-1.3: What basic concepts did Hutton and Sedgwick contribute to geology?
RQ Ev-1.4: What key contributions did Cuvier make to both geology and biology?
RQ Ev-1.5: How did these scientists interpret observed patterns in terms of God's plan?
V. Manifestations of Design
Key Terms: Great Chain of Being
RQ Ev-1.6: What was William Paley's argument for the exquisite design of an eye or wing?
VI. How the Giraffe Got its Neck
RQ Ev-1.7: Why did Lamarck's ideas upset leading naturalists?
See this web article for a revealing account of "bogus" textbook myths falsely attributed to Lamarck.
VII. The Making of a Geologist
RQ Ev-1.8: How did Darwin seek to observe patterns predicted by Lyell in his Principles of Geology?
VIII. "A Strange Idea of Insecurity"
RQ Ev-1.9: What fossil discoveries did Darwin make? (Can you find his mention of them here?)
RQ Ev-1.10: What led Darwin to conclude that the Andes were of relatively recent origin?
IX. A Little Bird Collecting
RQ Ev-1.11: Why did Darwin write that the Galápagos archipelago "seems to be a little world within itself"?
X. Life Builds Itself
Key Terms: uniformitarianism
RQ Ev-1.12: Darwin's first major contribution was to explain how coral atolls form. How do they form and why is this geological explanation related to his notion of evolution?
See Darwin the Geologist web pages
Click link to return to Biology 404
Schedule
or ahead to Zimmer Chapter 2
or to Understanding Evolution Chapter 1
This page created 2/3/03 © D.J. Eernisse, Last Modified 2/4/03, Links Last Completely Checked 2/3/03