Biology 111: Lecture 3Fall 1998

Evolution: Facts and Fictions

  1. What is evolution?

  2. Why study evolution?

  3. What does Creation tells us about evolution?
    1. Biogeography
    2. Paleontology (fossil record)
    3. Taxonomy
    4. Comparative anatomy
    5. Developmental biology
    6. DNA analysis

  4. What are the hypotheses for the mechanism of evolution?
    1. Inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarck)
    2. Natural selection (Darwin/Wallace)
      1. "On the Origin of Species" (1859)
      2. Darwin's personal observations
      3. Definition = differential survival/reproduction
        1. The reproductive potential of populations is great, but populations tend to remain constant, because populations suffer high mortality rates.
        2. Populations exhibit variation, which leads to differential survival and reproduction of individuals.
        3. Individual traits are inherited by offspring.
        4. The composition of the population changes by the selective elimination of unfit individuals.
      4. Examples
        1. Rabbits
        2. Pepper moths
      5. Implications


"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians...who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, but walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
dc Talk, What If I Stumble