My Year of Darwin 10/28/2014: There must be some beneficial mutations

"I think it would be a most extraordinary fact if no variation ever had occurred useful to each being's own welfare." Charles Darwin, Origin of Species 1st edition (on Kindle)

I heard it leveled by creationists that no beneficial mutations have ever been documented. Logically this seems absurd if we consider that the environment is constantly changing and if organisms were created perfectly for their environment then they must change (the population - not any particular individual) to persist in a new environment. 

Snowy Egret from Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (aka Brigantine)

My Year of Darwin 9/23/2014: Inconvenient truths

"You ask about Lyell's frame of mind. I think he is somewhat staggered, but does not give in, & speaks with horror often to me, of what a thing it would be & and what a job it would be for the next Edition of Principles, if he were "perverted", - But he is most candid & honest & I think will end by being perverted." Charles Darwin, Letter to A.W. Wallace, January 1859

Lyell was the top geologist of the day and a fabulous scientist. He would need to rework his Principles of Geology to include evolution. This quote is insightful to me because it should not all (or even most) scientists of the day accepted evolution and that some rejected it because it would be inconvenient.

I heard a criticism of Biological Species Concept standing in one of the top bird collections in the world. The criticism was "there would be too many species."  I think Bob Zink put the number of birds at 30,000. Too many? Tough tootles. 

My Year of Darwin: 7/28/2014 Natural selection arrives with a whimper

"our joint productions excited very little attention, and the only published notice of them which I can remember was by Professor Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that was new in them was false, and what was true was old" Charles Darwin, Autobiography

Darwin was thinking and writing about natural selection before Alfred Wallace but Alfred Wallace had pulled the trigger to publish first by send Darwin a manuscript. Darwin and his crew were worried about him being scooped so they presented their work together so it could be called a tie. 

My Year of Darwin 6/26/2014: Hey ocean, see yaaa!

"This zig-zag manner of proceeding is very grievious; it has put the finishing stroke to my feelings. I loathe, I abhor the sea, & all ships which sail on it." Charles Darwin, letter to sister Susan Darwin August 4th 1836

Instead of rounding Africa and returning hope, Fitzroy goes back to Brazil to get more measurements and delays their homecoming. This sets the crew and Darwin on edge. Darwin never returns to the sea even though he is returning a young man. 

My Year of Darwin 6/21/2014: E ai Darwin? Chuck dissed in Brazil

"I must here commemorate what happened for the first time during our nearly five years' wandering, namely, having met with a want of politeness; I was refused in a sullen manner at two different houses, and obtained with difficulty from a third, permission to pass through their gardens to an uncultivated hill, for the purpose of viewing the country. I feel glad that this happened in the land of the Brazilians, for I bear them no good will - a land of slavery, and therefore of more debasement." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Ouch! Yet I found nothing of the sort when I was there. Unnecessary bureaucratic? My God yes. Rude? Never. Perhaps England had just eliminated Brazil from the World Cup???  Highly unlikely (even if there was a World Cup at the time). 

My Year of Darwin 6/19/2014: You have to be there!

"I wished to find language to express my ideas. Epithet after epithet was found too weak to convey to those who have not visited the intertropical regions the sensation and the delight which the mind experiences" Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Yup! 

My Year of Darwin 6/18/2014: Geologic change: resistance is futile

"Where on the face of the earth can we find a spot on which close investigation will not discover signs of that endless cycle of change, to which this earth has been, is, and will be subjected?" Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

I do hate the heat. But I love the tropics. Go figure. I love thinking about what it would be like to be in Wilkes-Barre 18,000 years ago at the edge of the ice sheet. Aaah. Must have been cool. Then is was, if my understanding is correct, extensive savannas after the the ice sheets retreated, then forests invaded. But the forests have changed, and changed quick. This is just a small fraction of the change that northeast Pennsylvania has been under deep oceans (I drive down HWY 81 will demonstrate this) and higher than the Andes. These types of changes have occurred all over the planet - every square centimeter has a four and a half billion year history. 

This is my second favorite science music video!

My Year of Darwin 6/14/2014: An Army of Aquatic Architects

"Let the hurricane teat up its thousand huge fragments; yet what will that tell against the accumulated labour of myriads of architects at work night and day, month after month? Thus do we see the soft and gelatinous body of a polypus, through the agency of the vital laws, conquering the great mechanical power of the waves of an ocean which neither the art of man nor the inanimate works of nature could successfully resist." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin is exploring coral atolls (islands of coral) in the southeastern Pacific. Here we see an expression of the the theist philosophy of a world filled with natural laws without the need for supernatural intervention. We see corals growing constantly and recovering from disturbance. The thousands of feet in thickness implies eons of growth. 

My Year of Darwin 6/9/2014: Darwin begins the real struggle: writing

"I am just now beginning to discover the difficulty of expressing one's ideas on paper. As long as it consists solely of description it is pretty easy; but where reasoning comes into play, to make a proper connection, a clearness & a moderate fluency, is to me, as I have said, a difficulty of which I had no idea." Charles Darwin, letter to sister Caroline, April 29th 1836

Well Darwin, welcome to my world. Darwin had been dealing with an immense collection from the American tropics and much less seems to be collected (or even noted) from the Pacific Islands so he is going through his geology notes and creating a narrative. Swearing ensues. 

I wonder if Darwin felt this struggle his whole life. Certainly I do. Even with practice writing science just moves slowly and tortuously. An accepted manuscript is more a relief than anything else. 

My Year of Darwin 6/8/2014: Trouble in paradise: invasive species in the Pacific Islands

"It is said that the common Norway rat, in the short space of two years, annihilated in this northern end of the island the New Zealand species. In many places I noticed several sorts of weeds, which, like the rats, I was forced to own as countrymen. A leek has overrun whole districts, and will prove very troublesome, bit it was imported as a favour by a French vessel. The common dock is also widely disseminated, and will, I fear, for ever remain a proof of the rascality of an Englishman who sold the seeds for those of the tobacco plant." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle.

Biotic homogenization is the loss of endemics and the spread of invasive species. I liken it to American cites - seems like every American city has a McDonalds, a Lowe's (with a Home Depot nearby), a Taco Bell, a Walmart, and so on. Likewise, most world cities have pigeons, House Sparrows, Norway rats, the House Mouse, cockroaches, etc. Surprising, given the economic costs of invasive species, that countries haven't sought compensation from the "donor" country. 

My Year of Darwin 6/5/2014: Exploring Tahiti

"The valley soon began to narrow, and the sides to grow lofty and more precipitous. After having walked between three and four hours, we found the width of the ravine scarcely exceeded that of the bed of the stream. On each hand the walls were nearly vertical; yet from the soft nature of the volcanic strata, trees and a rank vegetation sprung from every projecting ledge. These precipices must have been some thousand feet high; and the whole formed a mountain gorge far more magnificent than  anything which I had ever before beheld." Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Does sound awesome and something out of Pirates of the Caribbean!

Working at my new treadmill desk. This is written and posted while walking. Hand position is a little strange. I'll manage. Thanks Wilkes!  

My Year of Darwin 6/3/2014: Living in harmony in Tahiti

"After leaving the Galapagos, that land of Craters, we enjoyed the prospect, which some people are pleased to term sublime, of the boundless ocean for five and twenty entire days. At Tahiti, we staid 10 days, & admired all the charms of this almost classical Island. -The kind simple manners of the half civilized natives are in harmony with the wild, & beautiful scenery." Charles Darwin, letter to sister Caroline, December 1835

I'll have to dig to find more letters from the Galapagos. I know there's an online Darwin correspondence project but there's something about books that I prefer. Maybe it's the feeling of moving forward you get as you page through and not the perfunctory skimming feeling of the internet. 

So he's off to Tahiti where the natives are in harmony. I'm wondering if there has ever been a culture that hasn't transformed the land or over exploited the resources. Even in the Pacific islands, we know the natives killed off scores of endemic organisms. So it goes. 

My Year of Darwin 6/2/2014: Leaving Galapagos

"The survey of the Galapagos Archipelago being concluded, we steered toward Tahiti and commenced our long passage of 3200 miles. 

That's it. Adieu South America. Darwin never sees the Amazon! Never visits the Tepuis of northern South America. Nothing of Central America, the Gulf of Mexico. So much missed but so much juice for the squeeze.

They do return to South America but only the east coast and not as extensively as the first round. Should Darwin have turned back now, what would he have come up with? How far would his thoughts on evolution gone. No hints of natural selection yet but he is strongly suggesting that organisms are capable of evolving and part of it is related to what they do (their ecology) and their isolation. 

Yay for normal fonts.  

My Year of Darwin 5/29/2014: Darwin summarizes the situation in the Galapagos

 

"But it is the circumstance that several of the islands possess their own species of the tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder" Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

Yes, why would be their separate, but related species, living on islands so close together? If you were a creationist (and that species were created) that would mean each island required a series of creations (no wonder He needed a break). I doubt very much, even so early in Darwin's career, that we was of such a mind set. More likely, he was already thinking they evolved. But how? 

My Year of Darwin 5/28/2014: Darwin's Mockingbirds?

 

" My attention was first thoroughly aroused by comparing together the numerous specimens, shot by myself and several other parties on board, of the mocking-thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Clarles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus) all from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus; and all from Hames and Chatham Islands (between which two other islands are situated, as connecting links) belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter species are closely allied, and would by some ornithologists be considered as only well-marked races or varieties; but the Mimus trifasciatus is very distinct. Unfotuntely most of the specimens of the finch tribe were minged together" Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

There were two groups groups of birds that were important to Darwin and his development of natural selection: the finches and the mockingbirds. Each of these groups were important for different reasons. The finches show how one ancestral species can evolve into different phenotypes - various shapes. By his own admission, he did not carefully document locations of finches. Mind you, he was essential an early twenty-something fresh out of college, we could probably cut him some slack. The mockingbirds show the importance of geographic separation in the formation of species. 

Hopefully banding falcon chicks today... pictures to follow

My Year of Darwin 5/26/2014: No respect for the marine iguana

 

"It is extremely common on all the islands throughout the group, and lives exclusively on the rocky sea-beaches, being never found, at least I never saw one, even ten yards in-shore. It is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements."

One of his shipmates tied a stone to one and held it underwater for over an hour and it was still alive. They live on sea lettuce (Ulva) , which isn't bad at all. 

animals.nationalgeographic.com

My Year of Darwin 5/25/2014: Giddee-up tortoise

 

"I frequently got on their backs, and then giving a few raps on the hinder parts of their shells, they would rise up and walk away;- but I found it very difficult to keep my balance."

I do love thinking about the old Darwin, in his dotage, riding a tortoise but that's that the way it happened. It was a mid-20 year old Darwin that climbed mountains, survived sub-freezing nights under the stars, and cutthroats on the road.

Here are some great pics I found of Darwin and others riding tortoises. They're all, of course, t-shirts you can buy