Unit 7: Mechanisms of Evolution.

"To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real." - Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

"I sent Mr. Darwin an essay on a subject on which he is now writing a great work." - Alfred R. Wallace in a letter to his mother. Wallace, the less well known co-originiator of the theory of natural selection, is credited with coining the phrase, "survival of the fittest."

"If we are going to teach creation science as an alternative to evolution, then we should also teach the stork theory as an alternative to biological reproduction." - Judith Hayes.

Objective 1:

History of Darwinism
Lamarck biography (optional)
The Imaginary Lamarck: A Look at Bogus "History" in Schoolbooks - why the Lamarck story you read in your textbook is mostly b.s. (optional)

Objective 3:

Evolution is a Fact and a Theory (talkorigins.org)

Objective 4:

Polymorphisms and genetic variability (4a)
Variation correlated with geography
Applied to humans
Applied to tree shrews
Ecological rules (optional)

Objective 7:

Gene duplication mechanisms

Objective 9:

Sexual dimorphism (9c)
Size Does Matter When Choosing a Mate.
Survival of the fittest females: Tiny animals evolve through the ages without males' help (optional)

Objective 12:

Anagenesis vs. cladogenesis

Objective 13:

Divergent evolution
Adaptive radiation
Hawaii - a natural laboratory for adaptive radiat ion

Objective 18:

Exaptation

Optional Supplementary Material:

Barcoding Life: A New Approach to Defining Species.
What are hybrid zones?
Reduced hybrid fertility - check out a liger!
Where is speciation faster: tropics or temperate zones?
Darwin Finch Die-off: Parasitic flies on the Galápagos Islands threaten Darwin's famous finches.
Held hostage in Galapagos: giant tortoises, 30 scientists.