Question

Describe the evidence for descent with modification (evolution) that Darwin presented in his book “The Origin of Species” in 1859. How well was the book received by scientists and the general public?

Answer 1

Darwin's voyage experience made him to conclude that the origin of new species can be explained by natural law. During his voyage he collected fossils from one place, birds from another, and observed geological related stuffs. In his book "Origin of species",1859,  Darwin mentioned that all living things are resulted from a long process of natural development from one or a few forms.  His massive detailed studies of barnacles, both living and fossil, were exemplary instances of careful and thoughtful study of the world of life. He had shown selection by breeders as a model for change in nature. Darwin thought that the changes done by the breeders proved the changes by nature. He also proved the mechanism of change on how selection of the desired was the reason that breeders brought about the changes that they effect. There was evidence that artificial and semi-artificial selection can change organisms to an extent that they become really new species, which is isolated from others. It means that neither a horse can never be changed into a cow, nor did nature.

Scientists explained a group of organisms that have adapted to their environment even if there is a change in the genetic variation that increases or maintains the “fit” of the population to its environment. Eg. The webbed feet of platypuses can be an adaptation for swimming. The fastest speed of cheetah is an adaptation for catching prey.

The evolution of species made enormous variation in form and function and therefore, giving organisms that are drastically different from each other. If two species from a common point but evolve in diverse directions, it is called divergent evolution. It can be observed in the reproductive organs of flowering plants. They look different due to different physical environments and adaptation to different kinds of pollinators, even though they have same origin.

Darwin’s mechanism of natural selection shows that nature doesn't come together randomly, but it is well organized and it works. In 1859, Darwin's natural selection leading to adaptation is a big contributions to evolutionary theory and can be called as the second part of the Origin, which is still significant today. This gives a light in the mechanism of natural selection that is using descent through natural selection to explain phenomena through natural selection. Darwin published the book On the Origin of Species in 1859 and in 1870s scientists and general public had accepted the evolution as a fact. So, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the theory explaining the diversity of life.