Page Summary
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English biologist and naturalist (the study of life and the study of nature), known for his theories on evolution and natural selection. Evolution is most simply defined as the distribution of genes changing over time. (Luke Jacobs, February 2023).
Charles Darwin Biography from Darwin Online
New findings from Darwin's journals
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Darwin: On the Origin of Species
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HMS Beagle (centre) from an 1841 Watercolour by Owen Stanley |
Cross-Link: The Scopes Trial and the Debate Over Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species
The Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin spent 5 years traveling the world on the H.M.S. Beagle collecting plant and animal specimens, as well as recording geological observations.
His extensive collection of evidence led to his Theory of Evolution, which states that as time wears on, generations of living things adapt to their surroundings.
- The main aspect of Darwin’s theory is his idea called natural selection: living things that are more adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.
Evolution Explained
Charles Darwin: Evolution and the Story of Our Species from BBC
Darwin: A Naturalist Voyage around the World
Multimedia Resources
The Theory of Evolution Explained
Thomas Huxley/Samuel Wilberforce Debate on YouTube
Evolution: It's a Thing - Crash Course Biology #20 on YouTube
Darwin and Latin America (1831-1900) | HOSLAC from UNH
The Galapagpos Islands
NASA Satellite photo of the Galapagpos Islands
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Darwin's finches |
The Galapagos Darwin Finches, different kinds, and where to see them!
Explore the Galapagos from PBS (with an interactive map)
Click here for an article from Ted Blog about life on the Galapagos islands and people.
A Brief History of the Galapagos from Cornell University
Darwin's Field Notes on the Galapagos
Here is a link about the people, indigenous and Ecuadorian that live on the Galapagos Islands.
Darwin's Theories and the History of Life on Earth
- Using Darwin’s theory, the history of life has changed very dramatically since the living things on the earth appeared billions of years ago.
- In the beginning, oxygen-producing organisms formed, which greatly added to the amount of oxygen present in the atmosphere.
- The oxygen that was produced helped create the ozone layer, which rose above the atmosphere and helped block the Earth from ultraviolet radiation.
- Earth’s temperature began to fall because the ozone layer helped cool it. With methane and carbon dioxide slowly leaving the atmosphere, many organisms began to die off or evolve to survive.
- Multicellular organisms developed, and, shielded from a mass extinction that happened about 1 billion years ago, the multicellular organisms began to form into the first invertebrates.
- Plants started to grow on the land, and plant-eaters evolved and multiplied with the source of food.
- Soon, vertebrates, or animals with bones, began to develop, and life forms on Earth continued to grow in number rand diversity, including many reptiles, such as dinosaurs and crocodiles, as well as plants, such as ferns.
Natural Selection
This link is for an interactive video explaining Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection. It includes questions throughout to help your understanding of the concepts.
- This video is an explanation of the theory of natural selection.
Other Theories
Lamarckism is the belief that organisms change physical attributes to be more beneficial over time, from the French zoologist Jean-Baptsite Lamarck. While this may not entirely be in line with Darwin's theory, it may be distantly related. What if the organisms Darwin studied had changed along with Lamarck's theories? That is what this article from Quanta Magazine discusses. https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-darwinian-evolution-explain-lamarckism-20170511/
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