Sinh học - Chapter 23: The evolution of populations

The Origin of Species convinced most biologists that species are the products of evolution, but acceptance of natural selection as the main mechanism of evolution was more difficult. What was missing in Darwin’s explanation was an understanding of inheritance that could explain how chance variations arise in a population while also accounting for the precise transmission of these variations from parents to offspring. Although Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin were contemporaries, Mendel’s discoveries were unappreciated at the time, even though his principles of heredity would have given credibility to natural selection.