Theories of Evolution- Ebuka Ujunwa Through the years’ man has

always been questioning the concept of evolution, research has been

made, works by great minds have prevailed and discoveries have been
found. In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the first scientific
theories postulated by big names in the world of science, some of which
you might have heard of in biology lectures, books, and the rest. So let’s
dive into the world of science and figure out some of the first findings in
the evolutionary concept. Middle or high-grade scientific scholars, all
have a basic knowledge or insight about the word EVOLUTION.
Evolution is the continuous or systematic change in living organisms
due to environmental factors such as climate and the like, leading to
changes in both behavioral and organic amendments. The theory of
evolution explains how these changes occur, the role of the environment,
and how these changes help the organism to survive. To understand
evolution and the history of theories of evolution, it is necessary to also
understand the differences between ontogeny, the development of an
individual organism from young to old age (as from a tadpole to a frog),
and phylogeny, the evolutionary history of an organism. One of the
first biological scientists that had a knack for evolution and evolutionary
processes, Jean-Baptiste Chevalier de Lamarck (1774-1829), a French
naturalist, soldier, and academic, wrote a series of REPORTS ON THE
FOSSILS IN THE VICINITY OF PARIS (1802-1806). He arranged all
living things on stairs leading upward to man just to show the
diagrammatic method in which evolution has coursed through starting
from fishes and other sea creatures then to amphibians, to reptiles, to
birds, to four-legged mammals, and then to man. His theory was quite
accepted by scientists until he proposed that changes in the organs,
forms, and functions of animal bodies were brought about to meet the
needs of a changed or changing environment. Thus, according to
Lamarck, the giraffe, which he suggested, evolved from a horse, its
descendants however got its long neck by reaching for leaves on high
trees; the duck came by its webbed feet because it had to swim to find its
prey; moles lost their eyes by living underground for several
generations. Lamarck’s postulations have been called a theory of “use
and disuse”; provocative when first stated, it has long been discarded.
Lamarck’s greatest error, the one that proved most damaging to his
reputation, was the assumption that the new characteristics and
biological changes that animals acquire through their environment are
directly passed on to their offspring. This assumption is not true, at least
not in the way in which Lamarck meant it. Come on we all know that
generations of blinded moles will not produce blind moles. So Sir
Lamarck you might maybe wanna change that, ha-ha just kidding.
Another remarkable scientist who contributed to the evolutionary field
was Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) an English naturalist widely
regarded as the father of evolution. Some of his most important work
stems from his voyage on the research vessel HMS Beagle from 1831 to
1836, when he traveled around the world studying and collecting plants,
animals, rocks, and minerals. In his studies of modern and ancient
biological assemblages, Darwin noted that the number of individuals in a
given population remains relatively constant and that predator-prey
relationships within the environment ensure that only those individuals
best suited for life in that environment survive. Many individuals within
a population are born with inherited characteristics that prevent them
from surviving in that environment, and they die. Darwin called this
process “Natural Selection” and noted that with time the process makes
the entire population of that species better suited for its environment.
Darwin noted that as the environment changes, “only the fittest will
survive.” However, as with Lamarckian evolution, the mechanism for
Darwinian evolution was lacking, and no explanation for acquiring
advantageous adoptions was known. A scientific juggernaut who also
contributed to theories of evolution was the Australian scientist and
priest Gregor Johan Mendel (1822-1884), in 1869 described a system of
genes; that is heritable units, by which characteristics are transmitted
from parents their offspring. Mendel afterwards became known as the
father of genetics, and led to the study of heredity by 1910, after a period
of 40 years in which his work was never acknowledged or appreciated.
After this delay it was realized that new characteristics, or mutations,
arise completely at random, and are related to chemical changes in
DNA. These are thought to be caused by one of the three following
means: defective replication of DNA during cell division, physical
change of segments of DNA by twisting, breaking, or upturned strands,
alteration by an external force such as a virus or radiation. Many
mutations turn out to be damaging, causing death, while others cause
very minuet, almost unnoticeable changes. Another major step in
understanding evolution was made by Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), a
German biologist, naturalist, physician, and professor in 1869
recognized