Tag: evolution of life

British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace worked on a diversity of plants and animals of Malay Archipelago, reached at the same conclusion as Darwin. Wallace's book, "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection", was published in 1870.

'Descent of man' was another publication by Darwin after he published 'Origin of species' in 1859.

Phyletic evolution actually refers to slow gradual evolution. It is a theory stating that, evolutionary change happens slowly, steadily and gradually in an attempt of the species to continue to adapt to changes in the environment, until they gradually become new species.

• Charles Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection. It emphasized that in a population, variations result based on different combinations of traits and the carrying capacity of the environment is limited. 
• Hence there cannot be a guarantee of breeding and reproduction probability. In such a situation nature selects the best-adapted organisms for survival with better traits than the other.  
• Such an organism will have a greater chance of becoming parents for the next generation because of its superior characters. 
• So there is a struggle among the organisms for existence in which only the fittest organism survives and others perish. This concept is called as the survival of the fittest. Thus the correct answer is option C. 

Darwin notes that there is greater variation observed in domesticated species than would be seen in the wild. Darwin admits that the laws governing inheritance are not yet fully understood, why some traits might skip generations while others only appear in one sex or the other. He reviews a number of domesticated species, in particular various breeds of dogs where it remains unclear if they derive from a single parent species or several. After the different types of animals he has focused his study on domestic pigeons. So, the correct answer is "Breeding domesticated animals".

Darwin in his old ages returned to earthworms and wrote a book which described the volume of soil that earthworms swallow and eject as castings. He reported that an acre of land may contain about 50,000 earthworms and yield 18 tons of castings per year. So, the correct answer is 'About 50,000 earthworms'.

• The Galapagos Islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 973 km off the west coast of South America.
• Galapagos islands discovered in 1535 by a Spanish bishop named Fray Tomas de Berlanga, he named the island Galapagos after the impressive giant tortoises found there.
• Hence the name Galapagos islands have been given on the basis of occurrence of Giant Tortoises.
  
• So, the correct answer is 'Giant Tortoises'.

• The term Darwin's finches was given to Galapagos finches because, On his visit to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin discovered several species of finches that varied from island to island, which helped him to develop his theory of natural selection.
• Darwin's finches comprise a group of 15 species endemic to the Galápagos (14 species) and Cocos (1 species) Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
• The term Darwin's finches was given to Galapagos finches by David Lank in the book Darwin's finches.
  
• So, the correct answer is 'Lank'.

• The term Darwin's finches was given to Galapagos finches because, On his visit to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin discovered several species of finches that varied from island to island, which helped him to develop his theory of natural selection.
• Darwin's finches comprise a group of 15 species endemic to the Galápagos (14 species) and Cocos (1 species) Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
• Hence Darwin's finches occur in Galapagos islands.
• So, the correct answer is 'Galapagos islands'.

The Galapagos Islands were prominently featured in Charles Darwin's landmark book on evolution, The Origin of  Species. On his visit to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin discovered several species of finches that varied from island to island, which helped him to develop his theory of natural selection.