Anthro 101 historical influences of Darwin

Charles Darwin

 

1. Select one of the five individuals listed above who you would argue had the  most influence over Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural selection. This could be a positive or a negative influence. 

I chose French naturalist names Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who had the most influence over Darwin's development of his theory of Natural Selection. I saw similarities with a positive influence from Lamarck in reference to Dawrwin's theorizing.

However,unlike Darwin, Lamarck believed that species evolved through a specific process of choosing what traits worked best for the environment and constantly making these traits more complex. Darwin believed there was a selection in who survived, who receives traits. This means is that traits  must be passed through reproduction over the course of generations. This was actually a problem for Darwin because he did not know how traits were passed on.  Organisms with those new adaptive traits will have greater reproductive success than others and those new beneficial traits will spread, producing a change in the population. This is the process of natural selection, essentially the process of the natural environment selecting the organisms that will be most successful. 

2)  Briefly (but completely) describe the contribution this individual made to the scientific community.

Lamarck suggested a relationship between species and the environment. He suggested that when the environment changed, animals activity patterns also would change to adapt. According to Lamarck, organisms altered their behavior in response to environmental change. Their changed behavior, in turn, modified their organs, and their offspring inherited those "improved" structures. His theory is known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics, or the use -disuse theory. This would result in the increase or decrease (the use or disuse) of certain body parts. In other words, as the environment changed, the animal would have body parts that would change to accommodate the new surroundings. If this meant longer necks or shorter legs or thumbs, sharper teeth, etc; then this is what would happen. Lamarck emphasized the importance of interaction between organisms and the environment with the process of evolution. He is not correct  on his explanation of species changing genetically; but his idea is correct. Lamarck is credited with helping put evolution on the map and with acknowledging that the environment plays a role in shaping the species that live in it.
 Work Cites:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/3/l_023_01.html
www.victorianweb.org/science/lamarck1.html

 

 

3. From the bullet point list above (under "How does evolution work?"), identify the point (or points) most directly affected by this individual’s work and thoroughly explain how this point was influenced by your selected individual. Again, this could be a positive effect, meaning Darwin built upon the knowledge this information provided, or a negative effect, meaning that Darwin demonstrated that this individual’s idea(s) were incorrect and the mechanism of natural selection was an alternative explanation.

 

If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful for reproduction will change.
This involves the concept of Lamarck’s idea that animals will change and adapt to their new surroundings for survival....to continue. The traits that are most desired in maintaining life and continuing will be created and passed on.

"In order for traits to evolve and change, they MUST be inheritable.
Traits must be inherited in order for them to evolve and adapt to the new environment. This correlates with Lamarck’s idea "inheritance of acquired characteristics". (Cited from textbook)

"Individuals do not evolve. Populations do. Individuals cannot change their heritable traits; they can only pass them on. Evolution does not occur within a generation. It occurs between generations". Although Lamarck was genetically incorrect, his idea that heritable traits were passed on that assisted the animals to adapt and thrive in the new environments that were create

 

 

 

4. Could Darwin have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of this individual?  

In my opinion I can’t say that Darwin would or would not have developed his theory without Lamarck. Lamarck’s time frame is 1744-1829 and Darwin did not begin to realize the correlation to the animals and their environment until the late 1830's. As Darwin wrote (pg 36) "It at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of a new species."(F. Darwin, 1950, pp. 53-54) Darwin was basically stating what Lamarck had interpreted some years prior that animals would lose and or change what was not needed or desired in order to continue striving in the changing environment.

 

 

 

5. How did the attitude of the church affect Darwin and his eventual publication of his book “On the Origin of Species”?

The attitude of the church affected Darwin and his publication because it involved evolution theories and the ideas were considered atheism. Many believed and feared that if evolutionary ideas were generally accepted that the Church would be upset and social order would be torn apart, and civilized man would return to savagery. Science and Religion are not easily manageable. Both do explain, in their own ways, ideas and theories. Science can be tested over time and religious ideas cannot. Most people believed evolutionary ideas and theories were defeating what God was saying via the bible and that his creations (humans) would challenge the beliefs.