The Origin of The Species by Charles Darwin

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Darwinism is a theory developed by Charles Darwin with the help of many others. It states that natural selection is the most common cause of evolution. All species of organisms arise and grow through the natural selection of inherited variations that help increase the individual's ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.

1735 Carolus Linnaeus: He believed that God had created the world in a divine order from the simplest creatures up to human beings. He said God created struggle and competition to maintain the balance of nature. He was the one who classified species according to their similarities and differences. Linnaeus also observed plants from other parts of the world and saw there transformation when they grew in his home country Sweden thus showing what Darwin called natural selection. This influenced Darwin because it agreed with his evolution theory that species evolved and adapted when in different environments. Linnaeus planted the seeds for development on Darwin’s theory.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon: He thought about life in ways that no one has before, that both life and Earth had a long history. He argued that life generated under the right conditions. He claimed that life just sprang into existence. As the climate cooled, many animals migrated to the tropics. According to Buffon, as species moved to new habitats the supply of organic particles that could create new individuals changed. From this, he claimed that it could account for the geographical distribution of similar species around the world. He also noticed that even though geographic areas were nearly the same, each place had unique wildlife that was similar to wildlife in other areas. He hypothesized that they were all related in s...

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...ieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-did-carl-linnaeus-work-in-taxonomy-influence-charles-darwin-and-did-linnaeus-believe-in-evolution/

Lecture 2. (n.d.). University of Calgary. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://homepages.ucalgary.ca/~biol307/Lecture2.pdf

Natural Selection. (n.d.). Natural Selection. Retrieved April 13, 2014, from http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/natural.html

People Who Influenced Charles Darwin. (n.d.). About.com Evolution. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm

What Influence Did Charles Lyell Have On Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?. (n.d.). Big Site of Amazing Facts. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/what-influence-did-charles-lyell-have-on-charles-darwins-theory-of-evolution/

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