Chapter 2 Further Reading

1997 Mass Extinctions vs. Uniformitarianism in Biological Evolution. Lecture Notes in Physics 480:345-372.
Bak and Paczuski discuss the theory of uniformitarianism as formulated by Charles Lyell in 1830. They note that this theory, also known as gradualism, had a major influence on Charles Darwin. Uniformitarianism was seen as preferable to catastrophism, which was rejected by the scientific community—partly because it was reminiscent of creationism. The authors note, however, that catastrophic events do occur, such as mass extinctions. These forms of intermittent natural phenomena fall between uniformitarianism and catastrophism, and include the concept of punctuated equilibrium.

2000 Was Lamarck Just a Little Bit Right? Science 288 (5463):38.
Balter notes that Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) is remembered somewhat dismissively today for his theory that evolution occurs by the inheritance of acquired characteristics. The author points out that Lamarck made major contributions to biology that should not be overlooked, including being one of the first to argue that evolution rather than divine intervention was responsible for biological changes over time. While the work of Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel led to the dismissal of Lamarck’s ideas, the field of epigenetics—genetic expressions not linked to alterations of DNA sequences—leaves open the idea that some acquired genetic mutations can be passed on to offspring, some of which could play an adaptive role.

2016 Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term
anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions. PNAS 113 (23):6388-6396.
The authors examine the role of human niche construction since the Late Pleistocene. As humans migrated to and settled in the habitable parts of the earth, they dramatically reshaped global biodiversity. Human niche construction activities such as the “emergence and spread of agriculture, the colonization of the world’s islands,” urbanization, and the rise of global trade networks are “linked in complex ways with a variety of species extinctions, extirpations, translocations, and new modes of niche modification.” The study has implications for how humans deal with present-day and potential future effects of human niche construction on a global scale.

1970 Lamarck, Evolution, and the Politics of Science. Journal of the History of Biology 3 (2):275-298.
While Lamarck is often contrasted with Darwin today, Burkhardt’s research shows that his writing had little influence on contemporary scholars. Part of this indifferent reception by his contemporaries is related to hostile views dominating science during his time, as well as to the ideal the Lamarck’s arguments were insufficiently developed. The author examines how Lamarck’s own attitudes affected how his ideas were received—both in Lamarck’s lack of sensitivity to how his ideas would be received, and his own feelings that his “views would indeed be poorly received.”

1958 Lamarck and Darwin in the History of Science. American Scientist 46 (4):388-409.
Gillespie contextualizes Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by trying to examine to what degree Darwin did and did not follow on the work of others. He focuses on Lamarck as the best known of the pre-Darwinian evolutionists. An interesting point that the author brings up is that opponents who objected to Darwin’s work on religious grounds further critiqued him by arguing that he was not original. In other words, Darwin was both wrong and basically just replicated Lamarck’s earlier writing. These critiques are, of course, wrong, but Gillespie does a great service by exploring the connections between Lamarck and Darwin.

1994 The Evolution of Life on Earth. Scientific American 271: 85-91.
Gould notes that Charles Darwin himself saw natural selection as only one, albeit the most important, mechanism for evolutionary change. Punctuated equilibrium, which Gould helped developed, is presented as another way evolution of species can take place. Rather than always occurring gradually, new species can develop over short periods of time under punctuated equilibrium.

Martin, Alicia R., Meng Lin, Julie M. Granka, Justin W. Myrick, Xiaomin Liu, Alexandra Sockell, Elizabeth G. Atkinson, Cedric J. Werely, Marlo Möller, Manjinder S. Sandhu, David M. Kingsley, Eileen G. Hoal, Xiao Liu, Mark J. Daly, Marcus W. Feldman, Christopher R. Gignoux, Carlos D. Bustamante, and Brenna M. Henn

2017 An Unexpectedly Complex Architecture for Skin Pigmentation in Africans. Cell 171 (6):1340-1353.
Martin and her colleagues examine skin pigmentation among the KhoeSan of southern Africa. Drawing on the concept of polygeny, they find that skin pigmentation is more complex than previously presumed. The researchers note that “skin pigmentation in Africans is far more polygenic than light skin in Eurasians.” Among African populations there is great deal of variability in skin pigmentation by latitude. The KhoeSan, for example, “have considerably lighter skin than equatorial Africans.” They conclude that skin pigmentation is a “complex, polygenic trait in the KhoeSan” and that local evolutionary pressures play a key role the variability in human skin pigmentation.

1972 Lamarck Revisited. Journal of the History of Biology 5 (1):55-94.
Mayr remarks that it is difficult to develop an unbiased evaluation of Lamarck, given how he has long been cast in a negative light relative to Darwin. He points out that DNA studies clearly refute Lamarck’s theory of evolutionary causation. Nonetheless, the author notes that Lamarck is more than worthy of study for historical reasons, if no others. He undertakes the task of developing such a theory that is not simply an ad hominem attack.

2001 What Evolution Is. Basic Books, New York.
Mayr begins his preface with a simple statement, but one that has become increasingly provocative: “Evolution is the most important concept in biology.” He then precedes to demonstrate why this is the case. Mayr’s book is divided into four sections: What is evolution? How are evolutionary change and adaptedness explained? Origin and evolution of diversity: cladogenisis; and, Human evolution. The last section may be of greater interest to the student of anthropology, but the entire tome provided a solid and readable overview of evolutionary theory.

2008 An Evolving Genius: The Extraordinary Early Life of Charles Darwin. AnthroNotes 29(2):1-9.
http://anthropology.si.edu/outreach/anthnote/ANFall2008final.pdf
Schwartz provides a biographical sketch of Darwin’s life with the goal of understanding how he “evolved” into the scientific genius widely celebrated today. The author attributes Darwin’s independence—which later led to his voyage on the Beagle—to his mother’s death at an early age. Darwin also took long solitary walks as a young boy, observing the natural world around him, and collecting samples of eggs, insects, and minerals. By the age of ten, he was already becoming a student of natural history. The reader of this engaging biographical sketch will learn many other fascinating facets of Darwin’s life.

1982 Why Lamarck Did not Discover the Principle of Natural Selection. Journal of the History of Biology 15 (3):443-465.
Sheetz-Johnstone raises an intriguing question: why was it that Darwin and not Lamarck came up with the principle of natural selection? Lamarck was certainly aware that living creatures adapted to their environments and changed through time. The author explores the related notions of whether natural selection never occurred to Lamarck, or whether Lamarck came close to the idea but did not make the final, intuitive leap achieved later by Darwin.

1993 Uniformitarianism Today: Plate Tectonics is the Key to the Past. Journal of the Geological Society 150:7-18.
Windley discusses the importance of the concept of uniformitarianism to modern geology: the present is the key to the past. He considers the idea as developed by James Hutton in 1795 and its promotion by Charles Lyell in the first half of the 19^th century A.D. Windley examines how plate tectonics are a key reflection of the principle of uniformitarianism.