DARWIN

vs

WALLACE

How Money Power and Connections can make all the Difference in the World

CHARLES DARWIN

-lots of time to observe

-careful note taker

-young & energetic

-well educated

-well off

HMS BEAGLE

-stopped at many places in South America

-Darwin as gentleman companion and then as a naturalist

-5 year trip around the world

HMS Beagle.

Travelled down the east coast of South America

Noted pattern of life changing as he went south

found giant fossil species that resembled current species there

What existing animal does this resemble?

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

-very few land animals present;all of which arrived recently

-volcanic islands 1600 km from South America

Darwin visited each of the islands, and he found that each islands had mockingbirds with slightly different beaks and feeding habits

                                                           

                                                           

Darwin’s Finches: each had different bills & different diets.

The giant tortoises on each island had slightly different shells and ate slightly different plants.

Testing has suggested the giant creature was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835. She died in 2006.

A zoo in Australia has held a 175th birthday party for Harriet the tortoise, one of the world's oldest known living creatures, a Giant Galapagos tortoise.

Darwin back in England

-He was afraid of his own theories as they related to the church

-Did more research on collected specimens for the next 20 years [1835-1855]

-Every Royal Navy vessel that landed on the Galapagos was required to collect finches & note where they were shot.

ground finches

# 1 - 6

tree finches

#8 - 13

warbler finch

woodpecker finch

Woodpecker finch chooses different cactus spine for each job

a large cactus spine

a small cactus spine

A small population of ground finches have found a new source of food….blood from large birds

Ground finches with a booby

These are called vampire finches

GALAPAGOS FINCHES

-DARWIN thought that diet may have helped select or shape the beaks of the finches

-mainland only has one finch

-finches beaks match their diet

-each island has unique finches

As Darwin thought, and experimented back in England,

Alfred Russell Wallace was busy at work during the 1850’s in Brazil

Unfortunately, all of his collected materials were destroyed when his boat sank in 1852

Others would have given up, Wallace just went off to Indonesia to start again

WALLACE

-visited islands-careful observer

-sold specimens he collected mostly “BIRDS OF PARADISE”

-not well off

Bird of Paradise

worth quite a bit as a preserved specimen

Wallace’s journey

Wallace’s Line

• Wallace’s Line Separates the Ecosystem of Asia and Australia (with an aptly named area called Wallacea in the middle)

• West of the Line are Asiatic species and East of the Line are a mixture of Asiatic and Australian species

• Even though Bali and Java share 97% of their bird species, Balia and Lombok only share 50% of their bird species

Wallace’s Line

Sailing 1000km from Java to Bali, saw only hornbills eating large fruit with big seeds

After crossing 32km of ocean, at Lombok, saw only cockatoos eating large fruit with big seeds

What Wallace observed

Remember,

you can see Lombok from Bali

Wallace wondered:

“Why had God had created two such different birds to eat the same large fruit on two islands that were right beside each other?”

Wallace concluded:

The Environment had selected the best Asian bird [the Hornbill] and the best Australian bird

[the Cockatoo] to match the same fruit

Darwin and Wallace in 1855

DARWIN / WALLACE

Each concluded:

-environment somehow shapes species

-species vary due to natural selection

NATURAL SELECTION

KEY IDEA – more births occur than can be supported so only the ‘fit’ survive

Darwin & Wallace were both influenced by:

Malthus – ESSAY ON POPULATIONS

WALLACE wrote to DARWIN

-they shared similar theories

-DARWIN was afraid WALLACE would scoop him

-they agreed to publish a joint paper 1855

DARWIN published a book: 1859

“On the Origin of Species

by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.”

The book was greeted with much criticism and ridicule, especially cartoons, although Darwin never mentioned humans at all in his book.

Mr. Darwin, sir!

Reaction to

“The Origin of Species”

Darwin fled to his country house and would see no visitors

Thomas Huxley was a friend who agreed to speak for Darwin.

He became known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” because he loved to argue about evolution [with anyone]

There was a famous evolution debate on June 30, 1860 between Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce.

Huxley responded that “I would rather be descended from an ape than from a pompous ass like you!”.

Bishop Wilberforce was winning the debate until he strayed into Human Evolution. At some point he challenged Huxley about his ancestry.

And the audience ended the debate with applause for Huxley.

Evolution had won its first trial. It would face many more

Now back to the giraffes….how would Darwin explain the longer necks?