Darwin and Wallace on the theory of evolution

(Second of two parts)

But with time, Darwin achieved an icon status and has been ranked alongside the all-time greats — Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein. Wallace, on the other hand, gradually faded from the scene and into obscurity. But not with the Indo-Malay people who believe in Wallace as their real icon and benefactor in establishing the Wallacea area, a designated expanse of islands and seas in the eastern region of Indonesia which has become known as a mega-center of diversity of terrestrial and marine species unique in that part of the world. It is a great preserve that merits global significance in biodiversity.

Let me provide a personal background and scientific achievements of Darwin and Wallace.

Life of Darwin

Charles Darwin traces his roots from his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), who had his own thoughts on how life had evolved. Darwin was born into a wealthy family on Feb. 12, 1809. Following his father’s desire, Darwin entered medical school but was repulsed by having to cut open human cadavers and never finished his studies. At age 26, Darwin was offered a job as a naturalist and he joined the survey ship, the HMS Beagle, which sailed in 1831 for a five-year around-the-world journey. It was at the Galapagos Islands in South America where he took notice of the finches (birds) varying in beak size in the various islands. It dawned on him 20 years later that the bird’s beak size must have changed over the generations to accommodate the differences in the size of seeds or insects consumed on the various islands. These and many other similar observations gained from his field trips formed the basis of his fully formed theory of evolution.

The year 2009 marks the 200th or bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of his work: “On the Origin of Species…” This is a yearlong celebration that has been observed with dozens of events in at least 10 countries, from England to the city of Darwin, Australia. The Charles Darwin University in Northern Territory, Australia, for example, will hold a three-day symposium in September 2009, dedicated to the life and legacy of Charles Darwin.

Life of Wallace

Alfred Wallace was born in Wales, England on Jan. 8, 1823 to a middle-class English couple. But with the father’s deteriorating finances, Wallace had to leave school at age 14 and had to work for his brother in doing land surveying. Wallace was a voracious reader and he developed a strong desire to learn as much about the sciences of botany, mathematics, zoology, astronomy, and geology. With his exposure in doing survey work all over the English and Welsh countryside and equipped with a probing mind, he developed his interest in natural history.

In 1848, Wallace and a friend, Henry Walter Bates, set off to an expedition to the Amazon to earn a living collecting plan and animal specimens. They spent four years in the Amazon rainforest and in one occasion, they went as far as the upper reaches of the Rio Negro where Wallace nearly lost his life. It was during this collection expedition that Wallace began to ponder on species evolution.

After collecting all his specimens and being of poor health, Wallace decided to return home to England. But the ill-fated ship he was on caught fire in the mid-Atlantic and all his valuable collections were lost.

In 1854, Wallace left England again and this time sailed to the Malay Archipelago (now Malaysia and Indonesia) for another ambitious collecting expedition. He spent nearly eight years in the region. His first destination was Sarawak, Borneo, where he spent some 15 months, living and working closely with the Dyak people. Then in June 1856, he set out further to explore other islands — Bali, Lombok, Makassar in Sulawesi, Aru Islands (near New Guinea) and backtracked to Ambon, and finally to Ternate Island in the Moluccas where he established home. In all, Wallace collected a vast number of plant and animal specimens, which included beetles, birds, moths, and butterflies. In his travels to the different islands, he observed strange-looking mammals such as the tarsiers (small monkeys), “babirusa” or wild hogs with curly tusks, and the deer-size Anoa, the counterpart of the Philippine tamaraw. He also knew about the Komodo dragons (a huge man-eating monitor lizard) on Komodo Island.

It was on Ternate Island where Wallace finally composed his famous paper on species evolution that he sent Darwin in 1858.

Wallace became fully aware of the richness and uniqueness or endemism of marine and terrestrial life in that part of eastern Indonesia. He delineated the area with imaginary lines, which later became known as the Wallacea region. It included a string of islands starting from Lombok and going eastward in the Flores and Timor Seas, the whole of Sulawesi Island and the Moluccas or Spice Islands which were the center of clove trade with China, Portugal and the Netherlands.

But in recent years, the once pristine forests of Sarawak, Kalimantan and Sulawesi have given way to unrestrained economic activities and human population pressure. These include large commercial logging operations, human settlements for Javanese and other ethnic groups, gold and nickel mining, and conversion to plantation or estate crops, principally oil palm. In the early nineties, the Kalimantan forests and peat soils continued smoldering, sending thick smoke to Malaysia and Singapore, which disrupted air traffic. Likewise, seagrass and coral reef ecosystems in the Wallacea region have suffered severe damages from over exploitation of fisheries.

With the global concern on the environment, loss of biodiversity and climate change, multisectoral and multi-lateral initiatives are underway to rehabilitate wildlife and marine resources in Indonesia. The Indonesian scientific communities such as the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI), the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Wallacea Foundation and Conservation International are in the forefront in creating public awareness of the problems by invoking the legacy of Wallace to Indonesia and using it as a strong rallying point or leverage for action.

On Dec. 10-13, 2008, an international conference on Alfred Russel Wallace and the Wallacea which involved the participation of scientists from the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines was undertaken to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Ternate publication.

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Dr. Ricardo M. Lantican is a National Scientist and Professor Emeritus at UP Los Baños. His research on cytoplasmic inheritance of hypersensitivity to a disease in maize has created an awareness among biologists of the importance of genetic diversity as a weapon against environmental adversities. Dr. Lantican’s efforts in plant breeding, more specifically in the development of varietal resistance and the improvement of plant structure and morphology, have paved the way for the release of outstanding varieties. These varieties are now being commercially grown by farmers in the Philippines, parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia and South Asia. The new plant structure developed in mungbean through his efforts and that of his team has resulted in doubling of yields. The plant types evolved in the Philippines were heavily used as parents in the breeding program of the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in Taiwan. E-mail him at [email protected].