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Week1 Historical Influences

1. I believe that Alfred Russel Wallace had the greatest influence on Charles Darwin due to Wallace's theory of Natural selection. Wallace actually came up with the theory of natural selection. Darwin had many ideas that were contributed directly from Wallace in which he got to test while traveling around the world, especially to the Galapagos Island.

2. Alfred Russel Wallace contributed many theories including the study of species scattered around the world and how they were formed. He also, of course, contributed the ideas of natural selection which Charles Darwin later studied. https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/history_14

3. Wallace had the idea that "if the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different." This is the idea or theory of natural selection that Wallace introduced in which animals can develop different traits depending on their environment. Darwin furthered with this theory in the Galapagos island to prove that Finches were able to develop different beak shapes dependent on their food source and niche. Darwin proved that the idea of natural selection is real.

4. No, Darwin could not have developed this idea of natural selection with Alfred Russel, because he along with Darwin came up with the theory itself.

5. Darwin delayed publishing his works for years because he was fearful of the reactions from the church and people calling his work a hoax.

Comments

  1. I like the fact that you made mention of how Charles Darwin got many of his ideas from the Galapagos islands which was where he gathered so much of his evidence stduying the animals that inhabit the island as well as the environment that affects them and their survival.

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  2. "He also, of course, contributed the ideas of natural selection which Charles Darwin later studied. "

    "Contributed"? That's rather understating the work Wallace did on evolutionary theory. He went far beyond contributing to Darwin's work. He independently developed a nearly identical version of Darwin's mechanism for natural selection. This needed to be explained here and should have been expanded. Don't rely on your links to explain things for you. Sources should support your writing, not replace it.

    I agree with your choice of bullet points, but since both Wallace and Darwin developed the same mechanism, isn't it fair to say that ALL of the bullet points also apply to Wallace?

    "No, Darwin could not have developed this idea of natural selection with Alfred Russel, because he along with Darwin came up with the theory itself."

    Actually, Darwin DID develop his theory without Wallace. He had been working on his idea for two decades when he became award of Wallace's theory, so Wallace's impact isn't with regard to shaping Darwin's work. Where Wallace's influence is important is as the driving factor that finally convinced Darwin to publish after delaying for more than 20 years. So while Darwin certainly developed his theory without Wallace, he may never have *published* without him.

    Expand the last section beyond a single sentence. How long did he delay? And what, specifically, did he fear? Was it really the fear of being labeled a "hoax"? Was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing? Remember that his wife was very devout. How might she have been impacted if the church responded negatively to Darwin? Remember that scientists don't work in a vacuum. They can be influenced not just by academics but also by social, cultural and personal issues.

    These assignments are essentially papers and should be treated as such. Each prompt should be addressed fully and completely with paragraphs, not single sentences. There is no word limit here. Expand and show us what you have learned. See if you can teach us something.

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  3. "Darwin proved that the idea of natural selection is real."

    Hi, I'm not sure that this is quite true, that Darwin proved natural selection, because I'm not sure how we can achieve definitive results in testing. What he certainly did do is explain it and publish the seminal work on this theory. However, I think it's really good point. Some of these ideas had been floating around, but Darwin collated everything into one cohesive theory.

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  4. Hello!
    I selected Thomas Malthus as the most influential to Darwin's theory of natural selection. After reading your response, I learned more about the impact of Alfred Wallace. Wallace's input about the different traits over time as the environment changes is very similar to the natural selection theory. So, in a way, Wallace did have an impact on the theory of natural selection because they did have similar ideas. However, I believe that Malthus had the most impact, simply because without his theory natural selection may not be as thought out today.
    Nice response!

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  5. Hello Pumpkin Spice,
    It is incredible to have so much knowledge now a days! Early revolutionists were trying for decades to figure out how the universe works and today we have advanced technology along with plentiful information. Darwin developed so many theories based upon others ideas and I for one admire him for this method. He did not rush his work, he made sense of a hypothesis before pursuing them. Although, Darwin had plenty of delays, he made major accomplishments due to patience and valid ideas.

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