THE EVOLVING WORLD CHAPTERS 4 & 5. Preethy Subramanian & Adam Booth

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "THE EVOLVING WORLD CHAPTERS 4 & 5. Preethy Subramanian & Adam Booth"

Baldric Boone
5 years ago
Views:

1 THE EVOLVING WORLD CHAPTERS 4 & 5 Preethy Subramanian & Adam Booth

2 Chapter 4 Evolution and Conservation Mindell s Main Idea Our understanding of evolutionary history allows us to better focus our resources in hopes of maintaining the environment, thus allowing us to extract additional resources through sustained biodiversity

3 What is Biodiversity? The degree of variation in a particular measure of space Body temperature, how an organism meets its energy requirements, or generation time are all measures of biodiversity

4 Understanding Biodiversity Through Evolution Three levels biodiversity Genes Species Ecosystems Understanding the evolution of these allows us to see the connectedness between the three and see how evolution is more than replication errors and abiotic environmental factors

5 Biodiversity in Genes Two classifications Phenetic - similarity in function and sequence Phylogenetically - common ancestry

7 Biodiversity in Species Typically denote different organisms based on reproductive isolation Asexual groups are isolated on estimates of evolutionary distinctiveness Vertebrates and Plants are the most studied New surveying methods allow us to detect the previously undetectable - CiPCR

9 Biodiversity in Ecosystems The ecosystems role in cycling the materials necessary to sustain life makes it an integral part to understanding biodiversity Changes in ecosystems make different traits favorable and applies different selective pressures

10 Why is Biodiversity Important? Changes in ecosystems and environments destroys current biodiversity Disrupting the current levels of biodiversity potentially means loosing many abilities and traits that have not been discovered

11 Why is Biodiversity Important cont. Biodiversity allows ecosystems to maintain complex processes

12 Applications of Phylogenetics Taxonomy - organizing and describing diversity Phylogenetic trees trace back ancestry

13 Applications of Phylogenetics cont. Identifying Conservation Priorities Phylogenetic analysis increases our understanding of biodiverity in three distinct ways and allows up to direct our resources with more effectiveness Illuminating the extent of differentiation between different genealogy Allows us to increase genetic diversity in conspecific populations Identify evolutionary potential

14 Applications of Phylogenetics cont. Bioprospecting Using phylogenetics we can locate useful associations to plants and animals known to contain useful traits

15 Applications of Natural History Knowledge Measuring and managing low levels of genetic diversity in a population can increase an organisms ability to respond to environmental changes

16 Applications of Natural History Knowledge cont. Understanding evolutionary history allows us to see the coevolution between organisms and preserve keystone species Keystone species are those speceis whose loss would impact an ecosystem greatly

17 Applications of Natural History Knowledge cont. A species rich ecosystem has a greater ability to maintain its function in response to change

18 Ethics of Biodiversity Social Contract with Benefits A mutual progression through time Biodiversity has allowed us to get to where we are so its our responsibility to protect it Since we share a common ancestry we are a huge family, and by not protecting it we are allowing a pieces of oursevles to be destroyed

19 Discussion Question Based on the interconnectedness between genes, species, and ecosystems Mindell describes, as well as the potential application evolutionary theory gives us in preserving these, what area listed above do you believe would be the most effective for conservation?

20 Discussion Question Mindell states that our interaction with the environment is a social contract with benefits, and that our common ancestry with everything inherently makes conservation an obligation for us to uphold. Mindell also states that the brunt of opposition to conservation comes from shortsightedness. Does this ethical argument for conservation, based on different aspects of evolutionary theory, in your opinion, outweigh the short-term gains that current policies focus on? Why?

21 THE EVOLVING WORLD CHAPTERS 4 & 5 Preethy Subramanian & Adam Booth

22 Chapter 5 Evolutionary Metaphor in Human Culture

23 What Metaphor? Although there is a strong analogy to be drawn between organismal and cultural development, cultural evolution remains a metaphor There are several cultural factors that genes do not determine Social behaviors Innate language preferences Variations in human culture are not directly heritable Can t take the term cultural evolution literally, to be placed alongside organismal evolution

24 What Metaphor? There is no gene that codes for bull fighting, or that makes a baby prefer to speak Japanese over Dutch; these factors are cultural, not biological, and evolved that way

25 However Mindell makes the case that cultural changes occur over time in a manner STRONGLY analogous to biological evolution!! This is the basis of the rest of the chapter, despite his disclaimer

26 Languages Words

27 Trends in (Metaphorical) Word Evolution Cognates Mother in English :: Mutter in German Abbreviation Telephone Phone Combinations of words (Portmanteaus) Toponyms & Eponyms Armageddon, Sandwich Several mechanisms of word evolution SPAM

28 Tower of Babel Our own Dr. Pennock s book! Chapter 3, entitled Tower of Babel It will be easier to recognize the absurdity of the creationist arguments against the evolution of language, and that this will serve to reveal their weakness on the biological side as well. Pennock, pg. 122

29 Tower of Babel All languages commonly share variation within them You, y all, you-uns, you guys, etc. There are patterns to this variation Geographical dialects Languages also vary through time Thee and thou compared to modern speech The different linguistic kinds we now observe arose through gradual transformation from earlier and ancestral forms. Pennock, pg. 132

30 A recent internet meme that plays on the humor of old-fashioned language in the place of modern-day slang and rap lyrics.

Tower of Babel The 3 Darwinian aspects of evolution inheritance, variation, and selection all apply to linguistic evolution We inherit speech

31 Tower of Babel The 3 Darwinian aspects of evolution inheritance, variation, and selection all apply to linguistic evolution We inherit speech patterns from our parents, but through imitation, not genes The movie The Departed provides a good example of linguistic variation and selection

32 Language Pedigrees This language pedigree shows the relatedness of Indo-European languages Uses the same analytical approach used to infer phylogenetic relationships of organisms! Chapter 3 Copyright, President and Fellows of Harvard College

33 Other Forms of Cultural Evolution Convergence Occurs among many mammals, including humans The Golden Rule: somehow present in almost all world religions Adoptions Horizontal transmittance of traits; occurs when members of different species interbreed Examples: The story of Noah s Ark, Monotheism, Manicheism

34 Language Books

35 Evolution of Biblical Texts Until 1600, it was highly reprehensible to print English copies of the Bible or any copies that could be accessible to regular people People were brutally killed and even their corpses were defaced when charged with this crime Copyright, President and Fellows of Harvard College

36 Evolution of Biblical Texts Johannes Gutenberg s printing press changed everything (~1450) Made many copies of the Latin Bible High demand for an English Bible: printed in 1530 by William Tyndale Loads of time-driven variation between English copies of the Bible since then Selection: People intentionally used the specific copies that were suitable to their way of life Divine Right of Kings Heavy implications of Bible translations The German language

37 Evolution of Biblical Texts Some changes in biblical texts have been intentional Other changes originated as errors in copying. Mindell, page 220 Analogous to the evolution of DNA sequences

38 Religion Not going to talk about this much, because we already have!

39 Conclusion: Uses of Evolution & Limits of Metaphor Literalists cannot pick and choose when to be literal. Understanding evolutionary biology frees people to see religious cultures as originating and changing as a result of human, rather than divine, history. Mindell, pg Holy wars, so-called superior states dismantled These are eternal disputes! Must understand mechanisms of change to understand the metaphor

40 Discussion Question The parallels between evolution of words and the evolution of genes and genomes is striking. Mindell, page 203 How close is the analogy between linguistic and biological evolution? What do you see as the strengths of this metaphor and what are the limitations?

41 Discussion Question 2 Can the evolution of language be used to prove the evolution of organisms, or just to disprove the theory of Creation/Intelligent Design?

42 Discussion Question 3 Language has often been taken as a unique, distinguishing characteristic that separated humans from other animals Though the study of animal language remains controversial, it is fair to say that differences are of degree rather than of kind. Pennock, page 126 Is language solely unique to humans, or are there simply varying degrees of language throughout the animal kingdom? If it is unique to humans, could that be used as evidence against the evolution of humans from other animals?

A Summary of the Theory of Evolution

A Summary of the Theory of Evolution Raúl Esperante Geoscience Research Institute Loma Linda, California What is Evolution? What does the term evolution mean? The word has three meanings that are relevant