16.2 Ideas That Shaped Darwin's Thinking
16.2 Ideas That Shaped Darwin's Thinking
16.2 Ideas That Shaped Darwin's Thinking
Population Growth Thomas Malthus thought that if the human population continued to
grow unchecked, it would run out of living space and food. Darwin realized that this was true
of all organisms, not just humans.
Artificial Selection Plant and animal breeders in Darwin’s time used a process now
known as artificial selection to improve their crops and livestock. In artificial selection,
nature provides the variations, and humans select those they find desirable. Darwin
experimented with artificial selection. The results from his experiments indicated natural
variation was very important because it provided the raw material for evolution.
Name Class Date
For Questions 2–5, write True if the statement is true. If the statement is false,
change the underlined word or words to make the statement true.
2. Hutton realized that Earth was much younger than previously
believed.
3. Lyell thought most geological processes operated extremely quickly.
4. The processes that changed Earth in the past are different from the
processes that operate in the present.
5. Lyell’s work explained how large geological features could be built up
or torn down over long periods of time.
8. Which step in the diagram above shows the inheritance of acquired traits as proposed by
Lamarck?
Name Class Date
9. How did Lamarck pave the way for the work of later biologists?
10. Which of Lamarck’s ideas turned out to be true? Which turned out to be false?
11. How would Lamarck have explained the length of a giraffe’s neck?
Population Growth
For Questions 12–14, write the letter of the correct answer on the line at the left.
12. Which observation caused Thomas Malthus to form his theory about population
growth?
A. Human birth rate was higher than the death rate.
B. War caused the death of thousands of people.
C. Famines were common in England in the 1800s.
D. The offspring of most species survived into adulthood.
13. Which of the following is an idea attributed to Malthus?
A. As a population decreases in size, warfare and famine become more common.
B. As a population increases in size, the percentage of offspring that survive also
increases.
C. If the human population grew unchecked, its rate of evolution would increase
geometrically.
D. If the human population grew unchecked, there wouldn’t be enough living
space and food for everyone.
14. Malthus’s ideas led Darwin to conclude that
A. Earth is much older than previously thought.
B. the size of the human population can grow indefinitely.
C. many more organisms are born than will survive and reproduce.
D. organisms are able to evolve through a process known as artificial selection.
Name Class Date
Artificial Selection
15. How do humans affect artificial selection? What role does nature play?
17. Describe how you could use artificial selection to breed pigeons with large beaks.
Charles Lyell
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Thomas Malthus