[Darwin2009-1] Origin of Species Chapters 1 & 2 questions

[Stephanie Aktipis]

Hello Origin Reading group!
I hope you all enjoyed last night's kick-off talk by Professor Mendelsohn
and are now excited to crack open 'Origin'!  If you were unable to attend or
listen to the talk on-line, the talk is also available here as a digital
file:  http://showsupport.typepad.com/odyssey/

Our first discussion group is Tuesday, October 6th at 8pm.  I will be
sending out email reminders closer to the event, but wanted to get the
discussions questions to you now so you can use them as you read Chapters 1
& 2 of 'Origin'.  We will use these questions to frame our discussion on the
6th and I'll be contacting some of you in a week or two to ask if you'd like
to help start the discussion for a specific question.  So if there are any
that particularly stick out to you now, please feel free to contact me
directly to volunteer!

The questions are both attached to this email as a word document and pasted
below.

If you have any questions or problems please don't hesitate to email me.

I look forward to speaking with you all on October 6th!

Best,
Stephanie

*Chapter 1:  Variation Under Domestication*

1. Darwin states in chapter 1 that "the laws governing inheritance are for
the most part unknown." Given that Darwin had no idea how inheritance worked
and certainly had no access to the kind of knowledge we have 150 years
later, what do you make of the fact that he was able to get so much right
and have such a large impact? * (In fact, when biologists are asked today
for their top 10 list of general audience biology books that any mainstream
adult should read, Darwin’s 150-year-old Origin of Species is the only book
listed that was not published in the last 10 years.)*

*
*

 2.  Darwin spends much of the first chapter introducing the concept of
variation amongst natural organisms.  Although Darwin did not have any
understanding of modern genetics and theories of inheritance, he does still
attempt to understand the causes of variation found in nature.  How does
Darwin explain the variation observed in nature in physical characteristics
amongst organisms?



3. Darwin used the domestic pigeon as a sort of ‘model organism’ in Chapter
1 when discussing natural variation and the effect of external selection on
this variation. Why does Darwin spend so much time discussing pigeons and
what evidence does he use from domestic pigeons to set the stage for his
theory of evolution by natural selection?



*Chapter 2: Variation Under Nature*

1. After reading chapters 1 and 2, you might have noticed that Darwin spends
a lot of time stressing the different types of variation in nature.  In
chapter 2 (page 45), Darwin points out that variation “afford[s] materials
for natural selection to accumulate”.  What does Darwin mean by this, and
why does he describe the variation observed in nature in such detail?




2. In chapter 2, Darwin tries to tackle a problem that is still hotly
debated by biologists today.  Namely, he attempts to distinguish ‘species’
from ‘varieties’ in this chapter.  What does he say about each of these
concepts and how does he identify the differences between them?  Do you
think he is successful in separating the two concepts?



3. On page 55 of Chapter 2, Darwin describes an experiment he performed in
which he compared the amount of variation observed in species forming large
genera to the amount of variation observed in species found in small genera.
Why does Darwin think that species from larger genera are more diverse and
variable than species from smaller genera?



4.  In the last sentence of chapter 2, Darwin describes the members in the
natural world as ‘groups subordinate to groups’.  What does he mean by this
and how does this description correspond to the Linnaean system of taxonomic
classification (Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species)?


-- 
Stephanie W. Aktipis, Ph.D.
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University

Sophomore Advising Coordinator
Resident Tutor
Cabot House
100 Walker Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
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