Selection is the third of the five principles of natural selection, abbreviated as VISTA. Selection acts to bring things together, as recently observed in the water flea (pictured left).
Selection is the core function of natural selection.
Niles Eldredge (pictured right below), a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, formulated the acronym to explain Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. While selection is Darwin’s most core principle, it is also the most controversial of the five.
“On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”
One of modern biology’s principal functions includes the naming, grouping, and defining of species. However, exploring the history of the term opens a fascinating window into the checkered history of Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
Mendel rescued Darwin’s theory of natural selection early in the twentieth century – to a point.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Charles Darwin’s influence had continued to deteriorate, stemming from his obsolete theory of inheritance.
In the search for a scientifically valid theory, scientists, early in the twentieth century, rediscovered Gregor Mendel’s genetic inheritance theory, which had been published thirty years earlier.
Mendel’s theory delivered what Darwin missed – a scientifically valid theory of inheritance capable of driving evolution.
In 1837, nearly twenty years before publishing The Origin of Species, Darwin drew his first sketch linking species by inheritance (pictured left).
Knowing Darwin’s mechanisms of inheritance is essential for understanding his theory since inheritance plays a “chief part” in natural selection. As Darwin explains in TheOrigin of Species –
“The most important consideration is that the chief part of the organisation of every being is simply due to inheritance.”
Variations play a pivotal role in driving Darwin’s theory of evolution; heritable variations are a prerequisite for evolutionary change. In the sixth edition of The Origin of Species, while “natural selection” appears 408 times, the term “variations” appears 303 times.
Darwin, Then and Now, the Most Amazing Story in the History of Science, chronicles Darwin's life, how he developed his hypothesis, specifically what he said, and what scientists have discovered since the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859.
The book traces the rise and fall of evolution's popularity as a scientifically valid theory. With over 1,000 references from Darwin and scientists, Darwin Then and Now retraces developments in the most amazing story in the history of science.
Darwin Then and Now is an educational resource focusing on understanding the intersection of evolution and science to develop basic skills for analyzing and assessing the theory of biological evolution.
Selection is the third of the five principles of natural selection, abbreviated as VISTA. Selection acts to bring things together, as recently observed in the water flea (pictured left).
Mendel rescued Darwin’s theory of 
