1)Darwin began formulating his theory of natural selection in the late 1830s but he corresponded briefly with Wallace, who was exploring the wildlife of South America and Asia. Wallace kept supplying Darwin with birds for his own observations. Wallace wanted to publish his own book on evolution and sent Darwin his theory in 1858, which almost replicated Darwin's own. Upon seeing Wallace's paper, Darwin compared it to his own notes and observations and realized he was about to be scooped, and decided to end the 20-year delay in publishing his own theory. Wallace went on to make other contributions not just to biology but to other subjects such as land reform, anthropology, astrobiology and ethnography.His pioneering work on evolutionary biogeography led to him becoming recognized as that subject’s “father”.
2)Wallace works was on how traits evolve and change but must be heritable. On average, the trait will become more common in the following generation, and the generation through reproduction. Wallace and Darwin both realized that if an animal has some trait that helps it to withstand its elements, it may leave more offspring’s behind then others. As Darwin wrestled with natural selection he spent a great deal of time with pigeon breeders, learning their methods. He found their work to be an analogy for evolution. Nature unconsciously selects individuals better suited to surviving their local conditions. Given enough time, Darwin and Wallace argued that natural selection might produce new types of body parts, from wings to eyes.
3) Darwin saw Wallace’s notes and observations before he went to publish his own theories. They were on the same track but I believe that Wallace was a huge help on Darwin’s theory because he made it clear on Darwin and also pushed Darwin to publish his theory on evolution faster, making him work harder to publish it first. Wallace would send Darwin different birds so he could use them for his own observations which also helped him because he would observe birds to see how they would reproduce.
4)The church did not want Charles Darwin to publish his book “On the Origin of Species’ because it would go against the beliefs of the church and because it did not recognize the role of the “creator” in evolution. When the became publish it became the focus of a controversy between those who believed in the divine creation of life and those who believed in a natural origin of life. Darwin’s concept of natural selection has survived the scrutiny of over 100 years of biological study and has become one of the foundations of modern biological science
