Chapter 1: Introduction to Evolution

Learning outcomes
1.1 Diverse living species show common ancestry [evidence of CA]
1.1.1 List and explain four sources of evidence for common ancestry
1.1.2 Explain why evidence of common ancestry means that evolution must have occurred
1.2 Evolution is a population-level phenomenon [population level]
1.2.1 Associate evolution with changes in frequency in a population (not changes in
individuals)
1.3 Natural selection explains adaptation [selection concept]
1.3.1 Explain why natural selection tends to improve organismal adaptiveness

1.1 Common Ancestry

Charles Darwin is often credited as the father of modern evolutionary theory. Darwin was born
in 1809 and although he went to medical school to become a doctor, he later gave up that career
path to train as a minister. He was passionate about hunting and studying natural history,
including beetles, plants, and geology. Instead of completing his theological studies, Darwin took
an opportunity to serve as naturalist on HMS Beagle, a British navy vessel that was setting off on
a round-the-world voyage.

During his five years on the Beagle, Darwin made many observations of the natural world that
led him to develop the first coherent theory of evolution. The first sentence of Darwin’s historic
work, The Origin of Species, references his time as a naturalist onboard the HMS Beagle: “I was
much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the
geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent.” The pattern that
Darwin observed was that in different parts of the world you observe different species but the
distribution of species, or biogeography, does not appear random. Rather, similar species tend to
be found geographically close together. For example, Darwin observed that armadillos and their
relatives could be found in South America, but not in Europe, Australia, or Africa. Not only did
he only find living relatives of the armadillo in South America, but he also only found fossils of
glyptodonts in the Americas. Glyptodonts are an extinct group of mammals that have similar
characteristics to armadillos (Figure 1-1). Observations like these led Darwin to conclude that
ancestral species gave rise to multiple different descendent species.

This conclusion was radical in Darwin’s time. The prevailing view in the early 1800’s was
that all species on the planet had been created independently. But Darwin’s theory was that if
multiple species were descended from the same ancestor, they would be clustered geographically
based on where that ancestor lived. If the ancestor lived in South America, the descendants
would be concentrated in South America because the oceans made it hard for them to get to other
landmasses.

Darwin’s key insight is referred to as common ancestry. Common ancestry is the idea that if
you trace back the lineages of living species far enough back in time, those species will converge
to shared, common ancestors. The evidence that Darwin accumulated to support this hypothesis
can be categorized into four types of observations.
 Biology 152 Module II Evolution & Biological Diversity

First, he observed the biogeographic pattern of similar species clustered in geographical areas
even when there are other parts of the world that they would likely thrive in. For example,
hummingbirds are only found in the Americas and penguins only in the southern hemisphere,
even though those species would seem well adapted to the tropical forests of Africa/Asia or the
frigid waters of the Arctic, respectively. This pattern also applied when we compared living
species with fossils, as illustrated by armadillos and giant fossils called glyptodonts, which are
similar and both restricted to the Americas (Figure 1-1).

Figure 1-1 The extinct glyptodont is similar in appearance to the armadillo.

CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7838344)

Second, he observed homologies, which are structures that have deep, underlying similarities
between species. Homologous traits may be found in species that otherwise do not appear very
similar at first glance, and the traits might be used for different functions in each species, but the
structures underlying those homologies have remarkably similarities. For example, land
vertebrates have similar forelimb bone structures, regardless of whether that forelimb is used for
running (e.g., horses), digging (e.g., moles), flying (e.g., birds or bats), or climbing trees (e.g.,
primates). This observation of homologous traits is simple to explain with the concept of
common ancestry. At some point, an ancestor had bones in a certain arrangement and that
structure was retained by its descendants, even as those descendants repurposed the structure for
different uses.

A third source of evidence from common ancestry came from studies of fossils. Darwin also
studied traits in the fossil forms, finding that fossils tend to carry subsets of the traits found in
living groups. For example, some fossils shared similar characteristics to birds, like feathers and
hollow bones, but lacked additional traits, such as wings. The existence of such transitional
fossils is consistent with descent from common ancestry.

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 Biology 152 Module II Evolution & Biological Diversity

The fourth category of observations that Darwin drew on was the nested structure of taxonomic
groups. If taxonomic groups shared common ancestry at different times in the past, it is expected
that taxonomies would be structured with groups within groups: multiple genera within each
family, multiple families within each order, etc. This nesting pattern is consistent with the idea of
a diversifying process, beginning from an ancestor and radiating like the branches of a
tree. Based on all these kinds of observations, Darwin concluded that common ancestry rather
than separate ancestry is correct.

Darwin was unsure how far back in time common ancestry went, in the last sentence of Origin of
Species he wrote, “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been
breathed [by the Creator] into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone
cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most
beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” The phrase “into a few forms
or into one,” tells us that Darwin was unsure whether all life traced back to one origin that gave
rise to all species or to multiple origins each giving rise to many species. But since Darwin’s
time, it has become abundantly clear that there is one origin of known life on Earth. This is
shown by the molecular similarities that all life shares. These molecular similarities are so
specific and so complicated that it's inconceivable that they could reflect independent parallel
origins of life.

All life uses the same molecules, DNA and RNA, to store genetic information – always with the
same nitrogenous bases (A, C, G, T, and U). Similarly, while there are many thousands (or
millions) of possible amino acids, all life uses proteins composed of the same 20 amino acids.
Furthermore, life only uses the left-handed variants of amino acids, even though the left and
right-handed mirror image forms are chemically identical. All life also has the same genetic code
and many of the same cell structures, such as ribosomes. Cells also use ATP, much of it
generated from proton gradients, to store and transfer chemical energy. Finally, genetic
sequencing has enabled us to see that even the most different organisms share specific genes. All
this evidence, taken together, supports a single common ancestor for all life beyond reasonable
doubt.

1.2 Mechanisms of Evolution

Given the diversity of species that we see today and the clear evidence of common ancestry,
evolution must have occurred and be ongoing today. Darwin appreciated that any time we
observe species that share a common ancestor, then all the differences between those species
today must have evolved since they last shared a common ancestor. How could this change
happen? And what mechanism of change could explain why all species seem so well suited to
their ways of life?

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 Biology 152 Module II Evolution & Biological Diversity

Darwin inferred that change over time could happen in populations of organisms, without
individual organisms changing during their lifetimes. For example, consider a population of
plants with white flowers (Figure 1-2). If one flower produces a single offspring with purple
flowers due to genetic mutation, you now have a population with genetic variation, a
polymorphic population. Whether or not it is beneficial to have pink flowers, if you go back to
that population a thousand generations later, you might find that there are more plants with
purple flowers, and if you come back in another thousand generations, you might find that all of
the plants have purple flowers. This change in the genetic composition of the population is
evolution.

Figure 1-2 A fixed population has only one allelic variant, while a polymorphic population has
genetic variation. The population in this graphic becomes fixed for the purple trait when the
purple variant enters the population.

Evolution occurs when you have a polymorphic population and there is a change in the
frequency of the variants, usually continuing until one variant is fixed, meaning that all other
variants become extinct. In this case, the purple variant became fixed. Even after some variant
becomes fixed in a population, evolution does not stop because new variants can arise (by
mutation, which Darwin did not know about). As long as variations in traits exist, evolution will
continue to act on populations.

Darwin’s final insight was that we should not expect the process of evolution to be random. He
hypothesized that evolution would be affected by how different genetic variants alter the
behavior and abilities of the organisms that carry them. He called this mechanism of influence
natural selection. Natural selection implies that whichever genetic variants make an organism
better equipped for the pressures of their environment will tend to increase in frequency in
populations over time. Therefore, populations should get better adapted to their environments
over time.

Darwin broke evolution down into three core ideas. First, common ancestry unites all life. Since
Darwin’s time we have been able to find convincing evidence that all living species descend
from a common ancestor. Secondly, populations evolve in such a way that, so long as genetic

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variation continues to be generated, populations will change. Third, and lastly, that change in
populations over time is not random but is adaptive because of natural selection: variants that
make organisms better suited to their environment are the variants that tend to persist and grow
in abundance, making the population better suited to its environment over time.

Glossary

Biogeography: The geographic distribution of living organisms

Common ancestry: The concept that if you trace back the lineages of living species far enough
in time, those species will converge to a shared ancestor
Evolution: The change in frequency of genetic variants in a population
Fixation: The loss of all variants except one from a population
Homology: Traits whose similarities are explained by common ancestry
Natural selection: The tendency for genetic variants that enhance fitness to go to fixation and
variants that reduce fitness to be lost from populations
Nested hierarchy: A pattern of groups nested within groups (without overlaps) as seen in
taxonomies
Polymorphism: The existence of multiple variants within a population
Transitional fossil: Fossil taxa that have some, but not all, of the derived traits of a living group

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