“Darwin online” (http://darwin-online.org.uk), com-
piled by John van Wyhe, provides all of Darwin’s
writings, including many translations of The Origin
of Species and his other books into other languag-es. van Wyhe has also created “Wallace online”
(http://wallace-online.org), a similar website on
Alfred Russel Wallace.PRoBlEMS AnD DISCuSSIon ToPICS
- Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote “nothing in biol-
ogy makes sense except in the light of evolu-
tion.” What did he mean by this? How does evo-
lution unify the biological sciences? What other
principles might do so? - Analyze this Ralph Waldo Emerson couplet:
Striving to be man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form.
What pre-Darwinian concepts does it express?
What fault in it would a Darwinian find? - Human immunodeficiency virus entered human
populations after evolving from a simian immu-
nodeficiency virus. nikolaas Tinbergen (1963)^1
proposed explaining shifts in traits from two
perspectives: dynamic versus static, and proxi-
mate versus ultimate. This framework can be
used to understand the evolution of a trait in
four ways: (i) causation (proximate/static): the
mechanism of the trait as it works in the present;
(ii) survival value (ultimate/static): how function
of the trait enhances survival or reproduction;
(iii) ontogeny (proximate/dynamic): the develop-
ment of the trait in an individual; and (iv) evolu-
tion (ultimate/dynamic): the phylogenetic history
of the trait. use these categories to discuss the
causes for the virus shifting to humans from
other primates. - Joseph Dalton Hooker and Charles lyell con-
vinced Darwin that the concept of natural selec-
tion should be presented to the linnean Society
and read an excerpt from his abstract along
with Alfred Russel Wallace’s 1858 manuscript.
Since Wallace was still in the Malay Archipelago,
he did not take part in the decision to make
this joint presentation. Critics later pointed out
that this was unfair to Wallace (and some even
accused Darwin of stealing some of Wallace’s
ideas). Do some additional background reading
and discuss whether the arrangement was fair,
how the concept of natural selection would have
been received if Darwin hadn’t been involved,
and how Wallace’s 1858 manuscript influenced
Darwin’s subsequent publication of On the
Origin of Species.
(^1) Tinbergen, n. (1963). on aims and methods of ethology.
Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 20: 410–433.
- The two revolutionary hypotheses proposed by
Darwin in On the Origin of Species were descent
with modification and natural selection as the
main mechanism of evolution. How did Darwin’s
ideas contrast with the prevailing notions of the
origins of species at the time? - Some scientists vigorously rejected Darwin’s
ideas when On the Origin of Species was pub-
lished. Richard owen (1860), perhaps the most
respected biologist in England, wrote (among
many other objections): “Are all the recognised
organic forms of the present date, so differenti-
ated, so complex, so superior to conceivable
primordial simplicity of form and structure,
as to testify to the effects of natural Selection
continuously operating through untold time?
unquestionably not. The most numerous living
beings ... are precisely those which offer such
simplicity of form and structure, as best agrees...
with that ideal prototype from which...vegetable
and animal life might have diverged.” How
might Darwin, or you, argue against owen’s
logic? - During the evolutionary synthesis, biologists
conclusively identified natural selection, gene
flow, genetic drift, and mutation as the major
causes of evolution within species. using the sci-
entific definition of evolution, explain how these
forces cause populations, species, and higher
taxa to evolve. - Drawing on sources available in a good library,
discuss how the “Darwinian revolution” affected
one of the following fields: philosophy, litera-
ture, psychology, or economics.
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