1. Carolus Linnaeus Taxonomy: the ordering of the natural world
Question: How did relationships come to exist?

2. Catastrophism (the only explanation for change)
The world began perfect
Change explained through major disasters (Catastrophies) on a scale not seen today.
Examples: Noah’s flood

6. Thomas Malthus Economist, concerned with
Overpopulation in Europe’s cities
Law of Biotic Potential
Orginisms will maximize their
production of offspring. More will
be born than can survive
What determines which will survive???

8. Inheritance of
acquired
characteristics

13. Darwin’s Finches Adaptation Environment plays a role in shaping a
species

14. Natural Selection (Darwin and Wallace)
Requirements:
1. variation within a species
2. more offspring produced than needed to assure continuance of the species
3. environmental factors that favor one variation over another

15. Mendelian Genetics
Austrian priest Gregor Mendel ( ) carried out an extensive series of experiments in plant breeding.
His carefully tabulated results provided the basis of what we know about the mechanisms of genetic inheritance.

16. Mendelian Genetics Figure 2.8:
The seven phenotypic characteristics investigated by Gregor Mendel in his experiments on breeding in pea plants. Each of the seven traits has two distinct phenotypes.