Charles Darwin The Father of Ecology! Second Part.

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Another significant stop on the trip was in the Galapagos Islands,

it was here that Darwin found huge populations of tortoises and he

found that different islands were home to significantly different types

of tortoises. Darwin then found that on islands without tortoises, prickly

pear cactus plants grew with their pads and fruits spread out over

the ground. On islands that had hundreds of tortoise, the prickly pears

grew substantially thick tall trunks, bearing the pads and fruits high

above the reach of the tough mouthed tortoises. During this five-year

the expedition, he obtained intimate knowledge of the fauna, flora, and

geology of many lands, which equipped him for his later investigations.

In 1836, Darwin returned to England after the 5 years with the expedition,

and by 1846 he had become one of the foremost naturalists of his time,

and he also published several works on the geological and zoological

discoveries of his voyage. He developed a friendship with Sir Charles Lyell,

became secretary of the Geological Society, a position which Darwin held

for four years. In 1839, Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood.

But constantly bothering Darwin was the problem of the origin of the

species. Darwin sought to prove his ideal of evolution with simple examples.

The various breeds of dogs provided a striking example of what

Darwin sought to prove. Dogs descended from wolves, and even today

the two will readily crossbreed. With rare exceptions, however,

few modern dogs actually resemble wolves. Some breeds, such as

the Chihuahua and the Great Dane are so different from one another

that they would be considered separate species in the wild.

If humans could cross breed such radically different dogs in only

a few hundred years. Darwin organisms are given the hundreds of

millions of years that she had been allowed.

From 1842, Darwin lived at Down House, a country gentleman among

his gardens, conservatories, pigeons, and fowls. The practical knowledge

he gained there, especially in variation and interbreeding proved

invaluable. At Down House, Darwin addressed himself to the great work

of his life, the problem of the origin of species. After five years of collecting

the evidence, Darwin began to some short notes, expanded in 1844 he

drew up his observations in his own use.

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