EVOLUTION

1 a) Why was Buffon puzzled by pig's toes?

Buffon was puzzled because he saw that a pig had a toe that didn’t reach the ground and claimed that it served no purpose. These features were later called Vestigial Features.

 

b) How did he explain them?

He said that the species of pig had been created in a better and more perfect form but evolved over time and changed.

 

2. What explanation did Lamarck propose for how species had changed over time?

Lamarck said that species changed over time because of 2 principles. The first principle was the principle of Use and Disuse, and the second one was the principle of inheritance of acquired characteristics. In his second principle, he said that traits a parent acquired during their lives would be passed on to their children however this was proven to be false.

 

3. What role did Lamarck believe the environment played in evolution?

He said that the environment played a significant role in evolution. He stated that species evolve as a response to its environment and become better adapted to that environment.

 

7.What do the following characteristics of fossils reveal about the history of life on Earth?

a)Some fossils of marine organisms are discovered at high elevations in mountains

That means those organisms are extremely old because Charles Lyell claimed with his Theory of Uniformitarianism that mountain ranges were formed because of extremely slow processes. The organism must have lived in those mountain ranges before they were even mountains and were transported up while the mountain ranges were formed.

b) Most fossils are of species that are no longer living.

That means organisms that had fossils are extinct.

c) Most living organisms are not found in the fossil record.

That shows organisms that are still alive must not have lived long enough to be fossilized. This is because the process of fossilization is very lengthy and the organism must not have remained in its current state long enough.

d) Most fossils are of marine organisms.

That means most organisms evolved from marine organisms and the first organisms must have been a marine organism. Also, water is better suited to result in fossilization because it is low in oxygen.

e) The oldest fossil deposits contain only simple organisms. Most recent deposits contain both simple and complex fossils.

That means all organisms started off as simple organisms. Some of those simple organisms were suited perfectly with the environment so they never evolved which is why there is a lot of simple organisms in recent fossil deposits. There are complex fossils because a lot of those simple organisms evolved into more complex organisms.