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Article: Evolution, Evidence for
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- Biology
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Evolution, Evidence for
Evolution is the unifying principle in biology. It explains the overwhelming diversity of life on Earth, as well as the constancy of molecular and morphological attributes observed in diverse assemblages of plants and animals. Charles Darwin's publication of
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
in 1859 marks the beginning of scientific understanding of how evolution has molded the history of life.
Darwin, along with his contemporary Alfred Russel Wallace, provided convincing and abundant evidence that all organisms, living and fossil, have descended with modification from a common ancestor and that the chief agent of modification is
natural ...