Psychology 3221F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Veery, Phaethornis, Microraptor

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 3221F/G
• Professor: Dr. Sherry

Document Summary

Evolutionary theory seems so easy that almost anyone can misunderstand it. Charles darwin was familiar with three unsolved problems in 19th century: change in life on earth, hierarchical organization of life, adaptation. Change in life on earth (devonian 416 mya, silurian 443 mya, ordovician. 488 mya: darwin and geologists of his time knew fossils preserved a record of change in life on earth, as the age of fossil-bearing rocks increased, the record of life they preserved became increasingly unlike the present, eg. Linnaeus (1707-1778) showed that living things can be classified into groups: many groups show minor variations within the group and large. Heritable variation: reproduction is inherently variable. Competition: reproductive success varies among members of a population. Selection: favourable variation contributes to reproductive success. The outcome is an increase over time in the frequency of heritable traits that make a positive contribution to reproductive success: variation in species under domestication: rock pigeon columba livia.