al evolutionary theory might obtain its first application to genetic engineering18.Finally, one could suggest that species residing in a specific area might be placed into two ancestral groups: those species with origins outside of the area and those species evolving from ancestors already present in the area. Because the evolutionary process is so slow, spanning over considerable lengths of time, it can be predicted that similar species would be found within comparatively short distances of each other, due to the difficulty for most organisms to disperse across an ocean. These patterns of dispersion are rather complex, but it is generally maintained by biologists that closely related species occur in the same indefinite region. Species may also be isolated by geographic dispersion: they might colonize an island, and over the course of time evolve differently from their relatives on the mainland. Madagascar is one such example - in fact approximately 90 percent of the birds living there are endemic to that region. Thus as predicted, it follows that speciatio!n is concurrent with the theory of biological evolution19.WALLACE'S CONTRIBUTIONSThere is rarely a sentence written regarding Wallace that does not contain some allusion to Darwin. Indeed, perhaps the single most significant feat he preformed was to compel Darwin to enter the public scene20. Wallace, another English naturalist had done extensive work in South America and southeast Asia (particularly the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago) and, like Darwin, he had not conceived of the mechanism of evolution until he read (recalled, actually) the work of Thomas Malthus - the notion that "in every generation the inferior would be killed off and the superior would remain - that is the fittest would survive". When the environment changed therefore, he determined "that all the changes necessary for the adaptation of the species ... would be brought about; and as the great changes are always...
