WAS DARWIN WRONG

WAS DARWIN WRONG?
An insight of Darwin’s theory of evolution 20th November 2013
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who studied variation in animals and plants on a five year voyage around the world in the 19th century. He was born in 1809 and died in 1882, during his lifetime he managed to present his findings in his book, “On the Origin of Species”. Darwin’s findings caused a lot of controversy during his time and the present day, they were seen as conflicting with religious beliefs about creations of the world and the creatures in it.

Theory of Evolution & Natural Selection
The theory of evolution is one of the great intellectual revolutions of human history, drastically changing our perception of the world and of our place in it. Charles Darwin put forth a coherent theory of evolution and amassed a great body of evidence in support of this theory. In Darwin's time, most scientists fully believed that each organism and each adaptation was the work of the creator. Carl Linnaeus established the system of biological classification that we use today, and did so in the spirit of cataloguing God's creations.
In other words, all of the similarities and differences among groups of organisms are the result of the branching process creating the great tree of life, were viewed by early 19th century philosophers and scientists as a consequence of omnipotent design.
Darwin’s theory of evolution entails the following fundamental ideas. The first three ideas were already under discussion among earlier and contemporaneous naturalists working on the so called species problem as Darwin began his research. Darwin’s original contributions were the mechanism of natural selection and copious amounts of evidence for evolutionary change from many sources. He also provided thoughtful explanations of the consequences of evolution for our understanding of the history of life and modern biological diversity.
1. Species change over time and space. The representatives of species living today differ from those that lived in the recent past, and populations in different geographic regions today differ slightly in form or behaviour. These differences extend into the fossil record, which provides enough support for this claim.
2. All organisms share common ancestors with other organisms. Over time, populations may divide into different species, which share a common ancestral population. Far enough back in time, any pair of organisms shares a common ancestor. For example, humans shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees about eight million years ago, with whales about 60 million years ago, and with kangaroos over 100 million years ago. Shared ancestry explains the similarities of organisms that are classified together: their similarities reflect the inheritance of traits from a common ancestor. 3. Evolutionary change is gradual and slow in Darwin’s view. This claim was supported by the long episodes of gradual change in organisms in the fossil record and the fact that no naturalist had observed the sudden appearance of a new species in Darwin’s time. Since then, biologists and palaeontologists have documented a broad spectrum of slow to rapid rates of evolutionary change within lineages.
The theory of evolution states that evolution happens by natural selection. Natural selection occurs when successful characteristics produce, by chance, mutations.
Darwin’s process of natural selection has four components.
1. Variation. Organisms exhibit individual variation in appearance and behaviour. These variations may involve body size, hair colour, facial markings, voice properties, or number of offspring. On the other hand, some traits show little to no variation among individuals—for example, number of eyes in vertebrates.
2. Inheritance. Some traits are consistently passed on from parent to offspring. Such traits are heritable, whereas other traits are strongly influenced by environmental conditions and show weak heritability.
3. High rate of population growth. Most populations have more offspring each year than local resources can support leading to a struggle for resources. Each generation experiences substantial mortality.
4. Differential survival and reproduction. Individuals possessing traits well suited for the struggle for local resources will contribute more offspring to the next generation.
From one generation to the next, the struggle for existence will favour individuals with some variations over others and thereby change the frequency of traits within the population. This process is natural selection. The traits that confer an advantage to those individuals who leave more offspring are called adaptations.
In order for natural selection to operate on a trait, the trait must possess heritable variation and must confer an advantage in the competition for resources. If one of these requirements does not occur, then the trait does not experience natural selection. (We now know that such traits may change by other evolutionary mechanisms that have been discovered since Darwin’s time.)
Natural selection operates by comparative advantage, not an absolute standard of design. Darwin wrote, “…as natural selection acts by competition for resources, it adapts the inhabitants of each country only in relation to the degree of perfection of their associates”
Since Darwin first proposed his ideas about biological evolution and natural selection, different lines of research from many different branches of science have produced evidence supporting his belief that biological evolution occurs in part because of natural selection.
Because a great amount of data supports the idea of biological evolution through natural selection, and because no scientific evidence has yet been found to prove this idea false, this idea is considered a scientific theory. Because lots of evidence supports scientific theories, they are usually accepted as true by a majority of scientists.
Here’s a brief summary of the evidence that supports the theory of evolution by natural selection:
Biochemistry is the study of the basic chemistry and processes that occur in cells. The biochemistry of all living things on Earth is incredibly similar, showing that all of Earth’s organisms share a common ancestry.
Comparative anatomy is the comparison of the structures of different living things. Comparisons made between different species are most commonly made by identifying differences and similarities between different skeletons
This figure compares the skeletons of humans, cats, whales, and bats, illustrating how similar they are even though these animals live unique lifestyles in very different environments. The best explanation for similarities like
Biogeography, the study of living things around the globe, helps solidify Darwin’s theory of biological evolution. Basically, if evolution is real, you’d expect groups of organisms that are related to one another to be clustered near one another because related organisms come from the same common ancestor.
On the other hand, if evolution isn’t real, there’s no reason for related groups of organisms to be found near one another. When bio-geographers compare the distribution of organisms living today or those that lived in the past (from fossils), they find that species are distributed around Earth in a pattern that reflects their genetic relationships to one another.
Comparative embryology compares the embryos of different organisms. The embryos of many animals, from fish to humans, show similarities that suggest a common ancestor.
Molecular biology focuses on the structure and function of the molecules that make up cells. Molecular biologists have compared gene sequences among species, revealing similarities among even very different organisms.
Palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life through fossil evidence. The fossil record (all the fossils ever found and the information gained from them) shows detailed evidence of the changes in living things through time.
Modern examples of biological evolution can be measured by studying the results of scientific experiments that measure evolutionary changes in the populations of organisms that are alive today. In fact, you need only look in the newspaper or hop online to see evidence of evolution in action in the form of the increase in the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Radioisotope dating estimates the age of fossils and other rocks by examining the ratio of isotopes in rocks. Isotopes are different forms of the atoms that make up matter on Earth. Some isotopes, called radioactive isotopes, discard particles over time and change into other elements
Of course, the most common source of evidence is found in fossils. The fossil record provides snapshots of the past that, when assembled, illustrate a panorama of evolutionary change over the past. This was one of the few sources of evidence during Darwin’s time.
Galapagos finches are the famous example from Darwin's voyage. Each island of the Galapagos that Darwin visited had its own kind of finch (14 in all), found nowhere else in the world. Some had beaks adapted for eating large seeds, others for small seeds, some had parrot-like beaks for feeding on buds and fruits, and some had slender beaks for feeding on small insects. One used a thorn to probe for insect larvae in wood, like some woodpeckers do. (Six were ground-dwellers, and eight were tree finches.) (This diversification into different ecological roles, or niches, is thought to be necessary to permit the coexistence of multiple species, a topic we will examined in a later lecture.) To Darwin, it appeared that each was slightly modified from an original colonist, probably the finch on the mainland of South America, some 600 miles to the east. It is probable that adaptive radiation led to the formation of so many species because other birds were few or absent, leaving empty niches to fill; and because the numerous islands of the Galapagos provided ample opportunity for geographic isolation.

Modern day supportive evidence
Past Darwin’s time, we have been able to identify other aspects of evidence that supported his theory.
The industrial revolution was a phenomenon that affected the majority of species of moths in England, the most commonly studied moth is the peppered moth or Biston betularia. Prior to the 1800’s (before the industrial revolution) the typical moth had a light pattern. Dark coloured moths or Melanic moths were rare and almost seen as a collector’s item.
During the Industrial Revolution, soot and other industrial wastes darkened tree trunks and killed off lichens. The light-colored morph of the moth became rare and the dark moth became abundant. In 1819, the first Melanic moth was seen and by 1886, it was far more common this illustrated rapid evolutionary change.
Eventually light morphs were common in only a few local areas, far from industrial areas. The cause of this change was thought to be selective predation by birds, which favored camouflage coloration in the moth.

Another common piece of evidence found is in pesticide resistance in crop pests.
An individual organism's genes determine its physical and behavioral traits. When individuals reproduce, they pass along unique combinations of genes to their offspring. Different environments favor individuals with different physical and behavioral traits. Individuals with genes that improve their survival will be more likely to pass along these genes compared to the rest of the population. The mix of genes in a population is called the gene pool. The composition of the gene pool continually changes over time through a process called natural selection.
Repeated use of the same class of pesticides to control a pest can cause undesirable changes in the gene pool of a pest leading to another form of artificial selection, pesticide resistance. When a pesticide is first used, a small proportion of the pest population may survive exposure to the material due to their distinct genetic makeup. These individuals pass along the genes for resistance to the next generation. Subsequent uses of the pesticide increase the proportion of less-susceptible individuals in the population. Through this process of selection, the population gradually develops resistance to the pesticide. Worldwide, more than 500 species of insects, mites, and spiders have developed some level of pesticide resistance. The two spotted spider mite is a pest of most fruit crops and is notorious for rapidly developing resistance to miticides.

The Excluded Theory
During Darwin’s time Britain was still very religious, in particular Christians. Darwin’s theory contradicted this as well as seeming 'ridiculous' because before he refined his theory he didn’t have the evidence to back up his theory (even though it’s now widely accepted).

To deny Christianity at the time would have destroyed his social standing - if this occurred he would never get this theory out and accepted. This is why he co-published it so that it wasn’t entirely him, and also did it at a time when it was more socially acceptable.

Alternative theories to evolution
There are 5 other main alternatives to the teary of evolution, they are as followed;
1. Creationism Unlike its progressive cousin at number five, Creationism holds that everything in Genesis is completely true. As in literally: God created the Earth and everything in it in six consecutive days of twenty four hours each, we’re all descended from Noah and at one point there were giants. Also, the Earth is only six thousand years old, so any geological evidence to the contrary—including the fossil record—is either baloney or planted by God just to mess with us. As a theory, Creationism is about as far from evolution as you can possibly get without just declaring outright war on Darwin
2. Scientology The movement’s defining text on evolution is L. Ron Hubbard’s ‘A History of Man’—taken literally it claims we all evolved from birds to sloths and then to apes, before spending a few thousand years as the Piltdown Man. Taken symbolically, it still argues we’re the product of an alien consciousness blown up with hydrogen bombs millions of years ago and left to drift through one animal to another until we wound up as human
3. Theistic Evolution Theistic evolution is the closest science will ever come to being linked by both Darwin and God. Whereas many Christians dismiss evolution as incompatible with the Bible, believers in TE are both believers of it and actively promote it as proof of God’s sheer power. The idea is still that God created the universe and everything in it, only this time he created it with science. i.e. the Big Bang, quantum physics, the speed of light and evolution.
4. Punctuated Equilibrium Of all the theories on this list, Punctuated Equilibrium is by far the most mainstream. First off, it’s not a totally separate theory to standard evolution—more like a fine tuning. Secondly, it has a whole host of respectable science-types who are down with it, because it helps solve a number of problems. The trouble with the fossil record is there’s a lot missing. If evolution is a gradual process, it stands to reason there should be a huge number of transitional fossils floating around out there—but we’ve yet to find them. That could be because we haven’t uncovered them, or it could be because transitional forms rarely last very long. According to Punctuated Equilibrium this is due to evolution happening in rapid bursts, often linked to massive global changes. After staying more-or-less the same for gazillions of years, a sudden shift in environment sends a species into Darwinian overdrive. By the time things settle down some fifty thousand years later, only the ‘fittest’ have survived.
5. Christian Science Christian Science is part of the New Thought movement, which states that God is everywhere and everything is divine. Christian Science took that a step further by proclaiming that nothing exists but the spirit, so everything around you.

So… Was he wrong?
Now we come down to the final question of the article, Was Darwin Wrong? From considering numerous amounts of evidence I believe that there is no current fault within Darwin’s theory because it has not been disproven, but at the end of the day, what do you believe, was he wrong or right?

By Obi Aneke 10.1
Sources of information http://www.docbrown.info/page20/ocrgatewayb2f.htm http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/what-evidence-supports-the-theory-of-evolution.html http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/lines_02 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/environment/4_survival_of_fittest4.shtml http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/ http://natureinstitute.org/txt/ch/moth.htm http://darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=g5