Darwin’s Theories of Organic Evolution

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Organic Evolution first got formulated in his book titled “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in the year 1859. Darwin’s Theory of Organic Evolution relates to the process through which organisms change with time due to various alterations in their heritable behavioral or physical traits (Darwin, 1859). According to Darwin, the changes that enable organisms to better adapt to their environments will also help them to survive and give forth to more offspring (Darwin, 1859).

            Darwin’s Theory of Organic Evolution forms one of the highly substantiated or validated theories in the history of science, and it is supported by evidence from a broad range of scientific disciplines, including developmental biology, genetics, paleontology, and geology (Darwin, 1859). Darwin’s theory of Organic Evolution has two primary points as described in Darwin’s book. That is, all lives on Earth are related and connected to one another, and that the diversity of life is as a result of the modifications of different populations by natural selection (Darwin, 1859).

            Darwin’s theory is often described as ”survival of the fittest,” where the term ”fitness” relates to an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce. In the book, Darwin presents a body of evidence that the life’s diversity came by common descent through a splitting or branching pattern of evolution (Darwin, 1859). According to Darwin, natural selection can create changes in a species in small ways, thereby making a population to change in size or color after several generations, a process known as ”microevolution.” However, natural selection (according to Darwin) can also lead to the creation of completely new species if given enough time, a process known as ”macroevolution.”  Darwin’s book also describes a form of natural selection that is dependent on the success of organisms at attracting mates, a process known as sexual selection (Darwin, 1859).

            In overall, Darwin’s Theory of Organic Evolution, described in his book ”On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” forms the basis or foundation of evolutionary biology. The book introduced Darwin’s Theory of Organic Evolution, which claims that populations evolve through a process of natural selection over the course of generations.

References

Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1st ed.). New York: D. Appleton and Company.