What Was Alfred Wallace Theory? What Was Alfred Wallace’s Contribution To Evolutionary Theory?

Alfred Russel Wallace, proposed that evolution occurs because of a phenomenon called natural selection. In the theory of natural selection, organisms produce more offspring than are able to survive in their environment.

British naturalist, Alfred Wallace co-developed the theory of natural selection and evolution with Charles Darwin, who is most often credited with the idea.

Wallace’s research on the geographic distribution of animals provided critical support for his evolutionary theories and led him to draw a boundary line through Southeast Asia that divides Asian and Australian animal groups.

Wallace developed some of his most important ideas about natural selection during an eight-year expedition to what was then the Dutch East Indies — modern-day Indonesia — to observe wildlife and collect specimens.

Few places on earth can rival this vast archipelago’s tremendous diversity of plant and animal life.

Wallace’s Line, as it was later named, runs from the Indian Ocean to the Philippine Sea.

To account for the phenomenon, Wallace proposed an imaginary line to divide the region into two parts. The animals found on each side of the line can be shown to have an evolutionary connection to either Asia (to the West of the Wallace line) or Australasia (to the East).

The Wallace Line is an imaginary boundary that runs between Australia and the Asian islands and the mainland. This boundary marks the point where there is a difference in species on either side of the line.