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Natural selection and evolution - OCR Gateway Darwin and Wallace

Genetic variation, as well as changes in the environment, cause characteristics of organisms to change over time. This process of natural selection leads to the evolution of new species.

Part of Biology (Single Science)Genes, inheritance and selection

Darwin and Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace
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Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace was a great admirer of Darwin and a fellow naturalist. Working independently of Darwin, he also developed a theory of evolution by natural selection.

Having travelled the world gathering evidence, Wallace is best known for studying warning colouration in animals, including the Golden Birdwing Butterfly (Ornithoptera croesus) and his theory of .

When Wallace proposed his theory of evolution, Darwin was encouraged to gather his own unpublished material together, on which he had been working in secret for 20 years. In 1858, the two men presented papers on their theories to the Linnean Society, and the following year Darwin published his masterwork, On the Origin of Speices

Wallace's golden birdwing butterfly
Image caption,
Wallace's golden birdwing butterfly