Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Biodiversity
Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith
Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith
DLPS Faculty Publications
Alfred Russel Wallace is well-known for his co-discovery of the principle of natural selection. Natural selection is usually considered a process, but it is not clear that Wallace regarded it in exactly these terms. In fact he more likely thought of the relationships involved as representing what we would now term a “state space,” a negative feedback loop wherein populations are maintained at healthy levels through elimination of the unfit. Both before and after the advent of natural selection Wallace clung to the idea that “more recondite forces” were shaping the nature and direction of evolution; this is especially evident …
Wallace: The Review, And Wallace: The Preview, Charles H. Smith
Wallace: The Review, And Wallace: The Preview, Charles H. Smith
DLPS Faculty Publications
In this essay commemorating the one hundred year anniversary of his death, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) is remembered for his main contributions to biogeography, and pointed to as a possible source of inspiration for future work in that field. As one of the science’s “fathers,” Wallace established both methods for study and a long-lived geographical systemization of animal distribution patterns. His efforts, moreover, may yet have the potential to inspire further new studies in the subject.