Compare and Contrast the Theories of Lamarck and Darwin
This is an essay compare and contrast the theories of Lamarck and Darwin. And here we will start with the review of Darwin's life and contributions in science. Then we will briefly compare both theories of Darwin and Lamarck.
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1809. Darwin was naturalist and stating he created the theory of natural selection which states that all species of organisms evolve and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.
Before Darwin was born, most people in England accepted certain ideas about the natural world as given. People didn’t think that all species were linked to a single-family tree. Back before Darwin people had thought that the earth was so young—they thought that it may only be 6,000 years old—an believed that there would not have been periods of time for species to change. During the 1800s, not many doubted the Biblical story of creation. The widespread view was that people were designed to reign over animals, 'over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky.” Most people in England believed that every single species stemmed from an act of special creation by a Creator.
Darwin theory of evolution of natural selection is the process where organisms with beneficial or desirable characteristics are more likely to reproduce. In doing so, they will hand down these characteristics to the next generation. Over long periods of time this process makes it possible for organisms to adapt to their environment. This is because the frequency of genes for desirable traits will rise in the population.
On the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin found several species of finches. Because of Darwin’s close observations, he had found out that the different species of finches differed from island to island. Aside from developing his ideas on natural selection, this also assisted him in his research on the evolutionary changes of the finches. The finches on the Galapagos Islands, even though they were almost the same in any other way to mainland finches, had different beaks. Their beaks had adapted to the type of food they ate on the Galapagos Islands. Their isolation on the Galapagos Islands over a long time made them go through speciation.
Lamarck’s theory competed against Darwin’s theory about evolution. Lamarck’s theory of evolution was centred around how species change during their natural life, and then pass these changes and characteristics onto their offspring. For example, Lamarck thinks that a giraffe had a long neck because its neck had grown longer throughout its lifetime, as it stretched to reach leaves in high-up trees, in order to get to the leaves on the tree. Also believed they would have had to stretch their necks, and which made their necks physically longer, as a result each generation of giraffe had a longer neck than earlier generations. He believed that change occurred to meet a species needs. However, Darwin believed in natural selection the fact that variation occurs irrespective of organism's needs and not targeted toward any objective.
Darwin didn't know anything concerning genetics, Pobiner said. 'He noticed the patterns of evolution, but he didn't really know about the mechanism.' That came later, with the finding of how genes determine unique biological and behavioural characteristics, and how genes are inherited from parents to their offspring. The combination of genetics and Darwin's theory of evolution of natural selection known as 'modern evolutionary synthesis'. The physical and behavioural alterations that make natural selection feasible, happen because of DNA and genes, which are passed down. these alterations are known as mutations. 'Mutations are basically the raw material on which evolution acts,' Pobiner said.
