OEB 53 Chapter Notes -Ovule

• School: Harvard University
• Department: Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
• Course: OEB 53
• Professor: Andrew Berry

Document Summary

The origin of the species: chapters 7/8 (instinct and hybridism) Darwin chooses to focus on several highly complex behaviors as the behavioral equivalents of the eye and other organs of extreme perfection and complication (chapt 6). Name three of these behaviors highlighted by darwin. Darwin highlights comb-building in honeybees, cuckoo parasitism, and slave-making in ants. Outline how darwin supposes these behaviors to have evolved. Darwin draws a parallel between physical structures and behavior, making the case that slight variations in behavior that are advantageous will be preserved by natural selection; over time, even the most complex behaviors can be developed. He argues that finding evidence of gradations is possible. Darwin suggests that the stepwise evolution of hive-bee cell-building is resource-driven, with the need for efficient storage of large quantities of honey is likely to have led to the evolution of hexagonal cells. Darwin suggests that rather than being specially endowed, sterility arises secondarily, as a consequence of other factors.