Darwin then published his masterpiece “The Origin of Species” in 1859 and became famous for the theory of evolution by natural selection alone - overshadowing Wallace. Wallace immediately passed on his idea to Darwin, who had already worked on this theory for 20 years. ![]() Only the fittest individuals survived and could reproduce, passing on their beneficial traits to their offspring. What Wallace came to realise was how species evolved. On the island of Ternate (now in Indonesia) in 1858, had a realisation that influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Alfred Russel Wallace’s contribution to the evolution theory However, except for animals that can fly or swim, the Wallace line has kept the ecosystems separate. This connection would have allowed the animals to migrate to the surrounding areas. Wallace believed that the other shallower waters around the islands had frozen during the Ice Age, connecting the islands to each other and their respective mainland. ![]() During the Ice Age, this fact caused the Wallace Line to remain unfrozen and to continue to be a consistent dividing line. The water depth along the Wallace Line is significantly deeper than that between the Asian- and Australian-like islands. What is the significance of the Wallace Line? Wallace’s idea was stunningly in line with nowadays knowledge. This line was drawn in 1859 and became particularly clear when focusing on the differences in mammals between the two regions. It marks the frontier separating living organisms with an evolutionary connection to either Asia or Australasia. Later, this line, which runs south between the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok and north between Borneo and Sulawesi, became known as the Wallace Line. He concluded that there was a boundary line that divided the region in two. While studying the distribution of animals around the archipelago, Wallace noticed an abrupt switch in fauna. He accumulated an astonishing number of specimens. This journey was blessed with even greater success than his trip to South America. The Malay Archipelago excursionġ854, Wallace began his 8-year-long travels through the Malay Archipelago (now Malaysia and Indonesia). He was able to rescue himself, with most of his notes and his impressively accurate map of the Rio Negro in the Amazon onto a lifeboat, where he stayed for ten days before being rescued. Unfortunately, the ship he was sailing on caught fire, in the middle of the open sea - taking his entire collection with it. He spent four years in Brazil before deciding to sail back to Britain in 1852 due to illness. The discovery also laid the foundation for his later research on Indonesian animal species and the foundations of evolutionary biogeography.Īlfred Wallace collected thousands of specimens of insects, birds, and other animals. This finding led Wallace to ask whether a geographical boundary caused the two species to evolve differently. While the other was black and lived only on the river’s south bank. One was brown and white and lived only on the river’s north bank. One of Wallace’s most exciting discoveries in the Amazon was identifying two different species of tamarind monkey. To finance the trip, they collected specimens and sold them. 1848, he explored the Amazon River Basin with a friend, the naturalist Henry Walter Bates, to examine the region’s exotic fauna and learn more about the evolutionary mechanisms that produced and shaped it. Where did Alfred Russel Wallace go on his first voyage?Īlfred Russel Wallace’s first voyage was to Brazil. 1837 Wallace started an apprenticeship in his brother’s surveying office, to significantly improve his skills as a mapmaker. The travelling scientist began questioning the predominant theory of creation at the time, representing the concept of a god-like being creating evolution. Growing older, Wallace developed a passionate devotion to nature and a scepticism towards religion. ![]() Born in 1823 in the Welsh town of Usk (now in Monmouthshire), his family later moved to England. Alfred Russel Wallace was a 19th-century British explorer, naturalist and geographer fascinated by new and contrasting species.
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