Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 6, 2012

Fertilisation of Orchids, written by Charles Darwin (pictured) and published on 15 May 1862, explores the evolutionary interactions between insects and the orchids they pollinate, which Darwin had mentioned in his previous book, On the Origin of Species. Field studies and practical scientific investigations that were initially a recreation for Darwin—a relief from the drudgery of writing—developed into enjoyable and challenging experiments assisted by his family, friends, and correspondents worldwide. The book was his first detailed demonstration of the power of natural selection, showing how the benefits of cross-fertilisation lead to complex ecological relationships and the coevolution of orchids and insects, with cumulative small variations resulting in beautiful and complex functional forms that natural theology had attributed to a grand designer. It explained the puzzle of Catasetum, which was thought to have different species of flowers on the same plant, and produced the testable prediction that the long nectary of Angraecum sesquipedale meant that there must be a moth with an equally long proboscis. (more...)

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