Select one of the five individuals listed above who you would argue had the most influence over
Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural selection. This could be a positive or a negative
influence.
Alfred Wallace could be considered both a positive and negative effect on Darwins life and research. Darwin was driven by Wallace to publish his findings for fear he would lose credit for the theory of natural selection and it would be given to Wallace. He gave Darwin the competition he needed to move forward.
Briefly (but completely) describe the contribution this individual made to the scientific community.
You must provide one link to an online source of information besides your textbook. No Wikipedia
sources! ( 10 pts)
Wallace had similar theories to Darwin regarding natural selection and provided Darwin with birds from his travels.
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_14
From the bullet point list above (under “How does evolution work?”), identify the point (or points)
most directly affected by this individual’s work and thoroughly explain how this point was
influenced by your selected individual. Again, this could be a positive effect, meaning Darwin built
upon the knowledge this information provided, or a negative effect, meaning that Darwin
demonstrated that this individual’s idea(s) were incorrect and the mechanism of natural selection
was an alternative explanation. (10 pts)
In order for traits to evolve and change, they MUST be heritable.
In order for natural selection to occur, reproduction MUST occur!
Although his theories were similar they also solidified that reproduction must occur in order for a species to change or evolve. With the selection of desirable traits a species had more chance to pass them on to newer generations.
Could Darwin have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of this
individual? Explain. (10 pts)
Darwin develop the theory without the help of Wallace. It was only after he was faced with the realization that wallace may recieve credit did he choose to publish his findings.
How did the attitude of the church affect Darwin and his eventual publication of his book On the
Origin of Species? (10 pts)
Darwin remained seperate from the church well aware of its beliefs and practices. However after the publishing of his book the idea of evolution has slowly shifted within the church.
