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Ernst Walter Mayr (/ ˈ m aɪər / MYRE, German: [ɛʁnst ˈmaɪɐ]; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) [1] [2] was a German-American evolutionary biologist.He was also a renowned taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, philosopher of biology, and historian of science. [3]
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English [1] [2] [3] naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. [4] He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 paper on the subject was published that year alongside extracts from Charles Darwin's earlier writings on the topic.
Controversy exists as to whether Charles Darwin recognized a true geographical-based model of speciation in his publication On the Origin of Species. [5] In chapter 11, "Geographical Distribution", Darwin discusses geographic barriers to migration, stating for example that "barriers of any kind, or obstacles to free migration, are related in a close and important manner to the differences ...
In the 1960s, he collaborated with mathematician and ecologist Robert MacArthur in developing the theory of species equilibrium. In the 1970s he and biologist Daniel S. Simberloff tested this theory on tiny mangrove islets in the Florida Keys. They eradicated all insect species and observed the repopulation by new species. [23]
Null models, admittedly difficult to perfect, are in use, and, although a leading conservation scientist recently lauded island biogeography theory as "one of the most elegant and important theories in contemporary ecology, towering above thousands of lesser ideas and concept", he nevertheless finds that "the species-area curve is a blunt tool ...
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. [1] [2] It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. [3]
Darwin now had the framework of his theory of natural selection "by which to work", [104] as his "prime hobby". [110] His research included extensive experimental selective breeding of plants and animals, finding evidence that species were not fixed and investigating many detailed ideas to refine and substantiate his theory. [16]
Competition is modelled by r/K selection theory, which is based on Robert MacArthur and E. O. Wilson's work on island biogeography. [70] In this theory, selective pressures drive evolution in one of two stereotyped directions: r- or K-selection. [71] These terms, r and K, can be illustrated in a logistic model of population dynamics: [72]