Charles Darwin Theory: Definition, Importance and Sample Questions

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), an English biologist is well known for his theory of biological evolution by natural selection. He was the one to observe adaptive radiation and the evolution of humanity and proposed a concept of Darwin’s theory which states that variations in heredity increase one’s ability to survive, compete and reproduce all species of organisms. This theory is known as ‘Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection’. Darwin has also published a book on Origin of Species by Natural Selection.

Charles Darwin’s theory implies that evolution happens by the process of natural selection. All living beings are different in personal traits and these traits are inherited from parents to offspring. Also, there are adaptations due to change in the environment. And in the long term, with this process of evolution, in about millions of years, new species are raised.

Charles Darwin has given many theories for the existence of life on this planet. His theories give a better understanding of the evolution of human life.

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Keyterms: Evolution, Natural selection, humanity, heredity, traits, adaptations, environment, living beings, inheritable traits

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Darwin’s Contribution

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Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. Observations on animal distribution and other relationships between extinct and living animals have been found by him. Not only them, but all the living beings that exist today and million years ago or even extinct also have some sort of similarities between them. He found out a counter answer for the conventional theory of the formation of all the living beings that were believed to form a supernatural process or creation of the almighty. A rational evolution of the formation of species has been given by Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Many species originated from single species but changed due to adaptation in changing environments.

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The Theory of Evolution

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Some of the major outcomes of Charles Darwin’s theory are:

• The very first form of cellular life appeared 2000 million years ago on Earth.
• Later, during the evolution process, single cellular organisms followed by multicellular organisms and invertebrates were formed.
• Then the jawless fish evolved and many organisms started invading to land from water. After that, reptiles, amphibians, and other viviparous animals started evolving.
• Then the primates that evolved around 2-5 million years ago are similar to present chimpanzees and gorillas.
• 75,000 to 1,00,000 years ago, modern homo sapiens came into existence during the ice age.
• Then, the living organisms reproduced and multiplied enormously.
• No other individuals are alike. All the individuals are different from each other in behavior, physical features, etc.
• Some of the traits are naturally passed from one generation to another from parents to offspring.
• The reproduction rate varies from one living being to the other.
• Darwin’s theory of natural selection has made the following major observations:

1. Traits are inherited from parents to offspring.
2. Living organisms are able to produce more offspring.
3. Offsprings differ in inheritable traits.

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Importance of Charles Darwin’s Theory

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• This theory can help scientists to understand react to changes by population and species when a change in the environment is observed.
• It can be used to find the breed fittest organism in the population and species.
• It is used to study the inheritance of traits and characters from the parents to the offspring.
• It gives a strong back to the point of formation of species.
• This theory is helpful for scientists to study the adaptation and evolution of living beings since the formation of this planet.

Read More: Law of Limiting Factor

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Ideas regarding Darwin’s Theory

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Some of the ideas given by Charles Darwin’s theory are:

• Evolution keeps on taking place in species with the passage of time. With the change in environment, the needs of living organisms change and they adapt to a new environment. And this phenomenon of changing over a period of time is known as adaptation.
• According to Darwin’s theory, lower changes are eliminated and higher changes are itself naturally selected. So, adaptations don’t contribute to progressive evolution.
• All the organisms have some common ancestry with some other organisms. According to Darwin, all organisms had some common ancestors that changed and diverged with change in environmental situations.
• Adaptive radiation was proved by birds of Galapagos island which developed different beaks according to the availability of food.
• Evolution is a very slow and gradual process. Evolution in any species took place in a very long period of time like about billions of years time. Adaptation is a gradual process that takes a lot of generations and in the end, gives rise to other species.

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Things to Remember

• Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. Observations on animal distribution and other relationships between extinct and living animals have been found by him.
• A rational evolution of the formation of species has been given by Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
• Many species originated from single species but changed due to adaptation in changing environments.
• The very first form of cellular life appeared 2000 million years ago on Earth.
• Later, during the evolution process, single cellular organisms followed by multicellular organisms and invertebrates were formed.
• Then the jawless fish evolved and many organisms started invading to land from water. After that, reptiles, amphibians, and other viviparous animals started evolving.
• Then the primates that evolved around 2-5 million years ago are similar to present chimpanzees and gorillas.
• 75,000 to 1,00,000 years ago, modern homo sapiens came into existence during the ice age.
• Evolution keeps on taking place in species with the passage of time. With the change in environment, the needs of living organisms change and they adapt to a new environment. And this phenomenon of changing over a period of time is known as adaptation.
• According to Darwin’s theory, lower changes are eliminated and higher changes are itself naturally selected. So, adaptations don’t contribute to progressive evolution.
• All the organisms have some common ancestry with some other organisms. According to Darwin, all organisms had some common ancestors that changed and diverged with change in environmental situations.