Chapter 1 - Darwin and the Beagle

Notes for Evolution - The Triumph of an Idea - Chapter 1

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or ahead to Chapter 2

General guide on these review questions here

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

source of image

Links: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

PBS Link: Darwin's Theory

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 409 Schedule
or ahead to Chapter 2