Evolution, speciation and classification GapFill

Charles Darwin is considered the father of evolution for his development of the theory of evolution by  environmental variationfertilisationselective breedingnatural selectiondominancemutation. By this process, he proposed that there is a lot of variation within a species, and when one characteristic offers an advantage, it becomes  independentvariedobsoleteinheritedhomozygousextinct, increasing how much it is seen in the population. Darwin published his ideas in his book  The Selfish GeneThe Order of SpeciesPrinciples of GeologyThe Eighth Day of CreationOn the Origin of SpeciesA Brief History of Time. There was significant opposition at the time from  the Churchdoctorsthe governmentfarmersthe Bank of Englandthe king, as well as there being insufficient evidence for many scientists as, at the time, the idea of how inheritance worked was not known. Now, using evidence such as  tree ringsastronomythe ozone layerancient civilisationsfossilssea level change and resistance to antibiotics in bacteria, the idea is widely accepted.

An alternative theory was proposed by  DrakeLamarckCrickCopernicusFranklinNewton, who suggested that if changes happen to an organism within its lifetime, then these changes are inherited to its offspring. This idea has since been disproved by scientists.

Another scientist,  EdisonAristotleCurieWatsonWallaceEinstein, came up with a theory similar to Darwin's at a similar time. Through discussions, this led to Darwin publishing his ideas when he did, and led to him becoming known for his ideas on speciation. Greater support for Darwin's theory was a result of an increased understanding of inheritance.  ArchimedesMiescherDarwinFaradayPasteurMendel, and his work using pea plants, formed the basis of what we know as inheritance, though his ideas were not accepted until long after he died. He suggested the idea of units, which later became known as chromosomes.

The evidence for evolution has largely relied upon the preserved remains of organisms that died millions of years ago. By studying these remains, which may be of species that have since completely died out (become  evolvedpreycodominantextinctheterozygousmutated), changes to species over time can be identified. However, gaps might exist as soft-bodied or microscopic organisms will not be well preserved.

The number of different species formed as a result of evolution is vast. As a result of work by Linnaeus, species can now be grouped into  twoone hundredtenseventwentyeight well-defined groups, and named using the  phylogeneticmonopolybinomialnominalbiomeclassification system. Increasing understanding of biology has led to different theories of classification, such as the three  mutantdomainprokaryotekingdomgenusallele system, which divides organisms into archaea,  bacteriafungiHomo sapiensplantaemammaliaanimalia and eukaryota.