2. BDC222 Introduction to the Evolution of Biodiversity Mr. Adriaan Engelbrecht Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology New Life Sciences Building Core 2, Room 4.100 Email: adengelbrecht@uwc.ac.za

3. Module outline Introduction to Evolution – What is it Evidence for evolution / Selection Mendelian genetics Rules of nomenclature Taxonomy / Morphological markers / Skulls Introduction to genetics Phylogenetics / Phylogeography Speciation / species concepts

4. The Detail... Assignments for the term: Assignment 1: Natural selection ‘Macaroni worms’ Assignment 2: Skulls Assignment 3: Practical report Assignment 4: Practical exam Term test: Monday Exam: T.B.A Remember All reports needs Turnitin -10% for every day late Text Book : Evolution – Mark Ridley 3 rd Edition You can DL get it from the Library site

6. The History...

7. Evolution-Before Darwin The original believe was the species stay fixed Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) – Transformism / Lamarckism (1809) – Two principles : 1.Species / Lineages persisted indefinitely, changing from one form into another 2.Second these lineages did not branch out and did not go extinct Via: - “internal Force” causing an organism to produce offspring slightly different – over many generations something new - Inheritance of acquired characters – He argues that an accumulation of these individual characters leads to new species

8. Examples Lamarck put forward Change in the animals lifetime is carried forward in next generation Characteristic / “character” Perfected with use & need over time Character not used in Parent generation and lost, also lost in offspring

10. Evidence for Lamarckism All tests for Lamarck FAILS!!!

11. Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) Invited to travel the world – 1831-1836 (22 years old!) – makes many observations of nature main mission of the Beagle was to chart South American coastline

12. (5) Over long periods of time, and given a steady input of new variation into a population, these processes lead to the emergence of new species Evolution by Natural selection (1) Variation exists in natural populations (2) Many more offspring are born each season than can possibly survive to maturity (3) As a result, there is a struggle for existence - competition (4) Characteristics beneficial in the struggle for existence will tend to become more common in the population, changing the average characteristics of the population - adaptations

13. Unique species

14. Darwin was amazed to find out: All 14 species of birds were finches… Finch?Sparrow? Woodpecker? Warbler? Finch?Sparrow? Woodpecker? Warbler? But Darwin found… a lot of finches Large Ground Finch Small Ground Finch Warbler FinchVeg. Tree Finch But there is only one species of finch on the mainland!

15. Correlation of species to food source Adaptive radiation Seed eaters Flower eaters Insect eaters

16. Warbler finch Woodpecker finch Small insectivorous tree finch Large insectivorous tree finch Vegetarian tree finch Cactus finch Sharp-beaked finch Small ground finch Medium ground finch Large ground finch Insect eaters Bud eater Seed eaters Cactus eater Warbler finch Tree finches Ground finches Darwin’s finches Differences in beaks – associated with eating different foods – survival & reproduction of beneficial adaptations to foods available on islands

17. Darwin’s finches Darwin’s conclusions – small populations of original South American finches landed on islands variation in beaks enabled individuals to gather food successfully in the different environments – over many generations, the populations of finches changed anatomically & behaviorally accumulation of advantageous traits in population emergence of different species

18. Two major ideas 1. Decent with modification 2. Natural selection