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David Attenborough Charles Darwin and The Tree of Life

The document discusses Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, illustrated through examples like the Galapagos finches and peppered moths, highlighting how advantageous traits lead to survival and reproduction. It contrasts natural selection with artificial selection, exemplified by dog domestication and pigeon breeding, and emphasizes the significance of transitional fossils like Archaeopteryx in supporting evolutionary theory. Additionally, it addresses the intersection of evolution and religion, the impact of scientific discoveries like DNA analysis and fossil evidence, and the evolutionary links between birds and mammals.

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Silas Ogolla
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48 views4 pages

David Attenborough Charles Darwin and The Tree of Life

The document discusses Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, illustrated through examples like the Galapagos finches and peppered moths, highlighting how advantageous traits lead to survival and reproduction. It contrasts natural selection with artificial selection, exemplified by dog domestication and pigeon breeding, and emphasizes the significance of transitional fossils like Archaeopteryx in supporting evolutionary theory. Additionally, it addresses the intersection of evolution and religion, the impact of scientific discoveries like DNA analysis and fossil evidence, and the evolutionary links between birds and mammals.

Uploaded by

Silas Ogolla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

How natural selection occurs according to Charles Darwin

a. Darwin’s observation at the Finches of Galapagos Islands: Due to adaptation, the

birds in these islands exhibited various beaks depending on their sources of food.

The thick and strong beaks were for cracking nuts while the slender beaks were

for eating insects. The birds with the most suitable beaks survived and passed on

their traits over generations, explaining natural selection.

b. The Industrial Revolution and peppered moths: The case was common in

England. Moths had light-colored wings before the Industrial Revolution.

However, due to pollution from industrial revolution, moths became darker and

became more camouflaged. The environmental changes favored the reproduction

and survival of the darker moths, affecting their population.

2. Two Examples of Artificial Selection.

a. Domestication of Dogs

b. Selective breeding of pigeons.

3. The choice of humans to breed organisms for specific traits refers to artificial selection.

On the other hand, natural selection occurs without human intervention since organisms

with advantageous traits reproduce and survive in their environment.

4. There are high chances of organisms producing more offspring than the environment can

support in natural selection. This contributes to competition for resources such as shelter,

mates and food. Natural selection states that “only the strongest ones survived”, meaning

that other organisms are phased out of the environment due to inability to camouflage,

lack of stronger muscles and disease resistance. The species adapt gradually and less

advantageous traits disappear while the beneficial traits become more common.
5. Significance of Archaeopteryx

It serves as an essential transitional fossil that offers evidence for evolution through

sharing the characteristics of birds such as wings and feathers, and reptiles such as long

bony tails and teeth. It explains the link between modern birds and dinosaurs, therefore

supporting Darwin’s theory of how species change with time.

6. The eye is likely to evolve through natural selection process gradually with eventual

beneficial changes with time. According to Attenborough, Mirzeoff and Leith (2009), the

eye evolves through simple light-sensitive cells that offers a survival advantage through

the detection of shadows and light. Minor mutations can contribute to the formation of

shallow depression, enhancing the detection of lights. Attenborough, Mirzeoff and Leith

(2009) further explained that the accumulations of further modification offers a great

advantage for reproduction and survival, for instance, the development of retina to

process images and the development of a lens to focus light. With time, the modifications

contribute to the more complex eyes evident in the contemporary species.

7. From the religious perspective, life was created by a Divine Being. However, evolution

provides an explanation towards the diversity of life throu]gh natural processes. Various

religious constructs contend that God created species in their current forms. However, the

Darwinian theory states that species change gradually over time through natural selection.

The Darwinian theory challenges the conventional approach to the origins of life, leading

to historical resistance to evolutionary science. However, the documentary attempts to

highlight the fact that some people reconcile evolution with their faith, by perceiving it as

a natural process under the influence of divine power.


8. The documentary identifies two key scientific discoveries that supports evolution by

natural selection since Darwinian time. These are DNA analysis and fossil evidence.

According to Attenborough, Mirzeoff and Leith (2009), DNA analysis reveals the genetic

similarities between species such as chimpanzees and humans; while fossil evidence

offers transitional forms which link species to modern ones. The scientific discoveries

validate the Darwinian theory by demonstrating how species are linked through a

common ancestry.

9. The two groups consist of birds and mammals. According to Attenborough, Mirzeoff and

Leith (2009), birds represent fossils like Archaeopteryx that are closely related to the

dinosaurs, a proof that birds evolved from the reptilian ancestors. Similarly, mammals are

positioned in the tree as descendants of early reptiles that share a common ancestor with

modern reptiles. However, mammals evolved distinct traits such as live births and fur.

These examples highlight the evolutionary links between species, and demonstrates how

live has undergone diversification over time.


Reference

Attenborough, D., Mirzeoff, S., & Leith, B. (2009). Charles Darwin and the tree of life. BBC

Worldwide.

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