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THE THEORY ORY OF EVOLUTION UTION
Evoluti tion
- n
Very slow change in a species
- ver vast periods of timem
Charl arles s Darwin: father of evolution “Origin of the Species thru Natural Selection” Why did some species s survive and flourish sh and others rs become extinct? t?
Is evolutio tion n fact or theory ry? Both! FACT: things change over time, documented in fossil record THEORY: evolution is a collection of carefully reasoned and tested hypotheses about how evolutionary change occurs
HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
1801: Jean Lamar arck ck (French)
- 1. Theor
- ry
y of desire
- organisms change due to inborn desire to change to
become more fit for environment ex: ant eaters develop long snouts
- 2. Theor
- ry
y of use and disus suse
- organs that are being used get large and strong
- organs that are not used shrink and eventually disappear
ex: snakes- didn’t use legs so disappeared whales- used to be land creatures, legs became fins
- 3. Theor
- ry
y of inheritance ance
- acquired traits were passed on to offspring
ex: snakes that lost legs passed trait