Hello Origin Reading group! <br>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: <a href="http://showsupport.typepad.com/odyssey/" target="_blank">http://showsupport.typepad.com/odyssey/</a><br>
<br>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! <br>
<br>The questions are both attached to this email as a word document and pasted below. <br><br>If you have any questions or problems please don't hesitate to email me. <br><br>I look forward to speaking with you all on October 6th! <br>
<br>Best,<br>Stephanie<br><br>
<p><b>Chapter 1:<span> </span>Variation Under Domestication</b></p>
<p>1. <span>Darwin</span> states in chapter 1 that
"the laws governing inheritance are for the most part unknown." Given
that <span>Darwin</span> 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? <i><span> </span>(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.)</i></p><p><i><br></i></p>
<p> 2.<span> </span>Darwin
spends much of the first chapter introducing the concept of variation amongst
natural organisms.<span> </span>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.<span> </span>How does Darwin explain
the variation observed in nature in physical characteristics amongst
organisms?<span> </span></p>
<p> </p><p>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? </p>
<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span>
</p><p><b>Chapter 2: Variation
Under Nature</b></p>
<p>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.<span> </span>In chapter 2 (page 45),
Darwin points out that variation “afford[s] materials for natural selection to
accumulate”.<span> </span>What does Darwin mean
by this, and why does he describe the variation observed in nature in such
detail?<span> </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><br></p><p>2. In chapter 2, Darwin tries to tackle a problem that is
still hotly debated by biologists today.<span>
</span>Namely, he attempts to distinguish ‘species’ from ‘varieties’ in this
chapter.<span> </span>What does he say about
each of these concepts and how does he identify the differences between
them?<span> </span>Do you think he is
successful in separating the two concepts?<span> </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>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.<span> </span>Why does Darwin
think that species from larger genera are more diverse and variable than
species from smaller genera?<span> </span></p>
<p> <br></p><p>4.<span> </span>In the last
sentence of chapter 2, Darwin describes the members in the natural world as
‘groups subordinate to groups’.<span>
</span>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)?<span> </span></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Stephanie W. Aktipis, Ph.D.<br>Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology<br>Harvard University<br><br>Sophomore Advising Coordinator<br>Resident Tutor<br>Cabot House<br>100 Walker Street<br>
Cambridge, MA 02138<br>