- Place Species in Increasingly General Categories
Aristotle
-Viewed Species as Fixed
-Each Form of Life Perfect and Permanent
-Arranged on a ladder
George Cuvier
-Key Role in Developing Paleontology
James Hutton
Proposed Earth's Geologic Features Can Be Explained by Gradual Mechanisms Still Operating
-Ex. Valleys Formed by Rivers
Charles Lyell
Used Hutton's Thinking to Create His Principle of Uniformitarianism
-Mechanisms of Change are Constant Over Time
Jean Baptist de Lamark
Use and Disuse- The Idea That Parts of the Body That Are Used Extensively Become Larger and Stronger While Those That Are Not Used Begin to Deteriorate.
-Ex. Giraffe
-Inheritance Of Acquired Characteristics---Organisms Could Pass These Modifications to Offspring. WE NOW KNOW THIS IS FALSE
What is the Title of Darwin's Book?
On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Strata
Layers of Sediment Cover Older Ones and Compress Them into Superimposed Layers of Rock
Adaptations
Characteristics of Organisms That Enhance Their Survival and Reproduction in Specific Environments
Evolution
Descent with Modification
Homology
Similarity Resulting From Common Ancestry
Homologus Structures
Ex. Shoulder to Finger Tips of All Mammals
-Represent Variation on a Structural Theme That Was Present in Their Common Ancestor
Endemic
Found No Where Else in The World!
Ex. Plants and Animals on Islands
Vestigal Structures
Remnants of Features That Served Important Functions in The Organism's Ancestors