Exactly two-hundred years ago today on 12th February 1809 one of the founding fathers of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin, was born in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom. To this day his thoughts on how life on earth evolved influence our daily lives, not least here at CMS. Charles Darwin certainly thought at length about animal migration, often considering creatures whose instinct to disperse had taken them to places from which they did not return. Their isolation then caused them to evolve into different forms, adapted to local conditions. The finches which Darwin encountered when visiting the Galapagos Islands during his journeys aboard the Beagle in the 1830s are the classic example. However, this evolution by natural selection certainly continues to operate in populations of animals that migrate “cyclically and predictably”, to use the wording of the CMS. Among them, the birds offer some fascinating examples.

CMS Appointed Councillor for Birds, John O'Sullivan, explains that “In the case of the Northern Wheatear, a migratory songbird in the thrush family, the populations that make the longest annual journeys have the longest wings. Such differences between populations may mark a stage on the way to the birds becoming separate species. Two very similar-looking migratory Eurasian birds, the Willow Warbler and the Chiffchaff, are believed, from genetic studies, to have had a recent common ancestor. Now, however, the species have different migration strategies. European Chiffchaffs move shorter distances to winter, typically in North Africa, and have shorter wings. European Willow Warblers have longer wings, and travel south of the Sahara to winter. This is evolution in action.”

Such changes take millennia to evolve. Unfortunately, the speed with which humans are changing the world, either deliberately or accidentally, gives little chance for such species to adapt. So there is a good reason for the international community, through instruments like CMS and its Agreements, to protect species along their migration routes. Their feeding and resting habitats can be kept free of artificial obstructions, and protected from unsustainable exploitation and other threats. In such a way, we give migratory species a chance to survive, and go on evolving. It seems very likely that Darwin would have approved.

To commemorate Darwin’s 200th birthday, the Museum Koenig in Bonn (Germany), a close neighbour partner organisation of the CMS Secretariat is launching a new exhibition and lecture series on “Darwin and the origin of species”. This new exhibition will highlight and explain exactly how Darwin was inspired to develop his theory of natural selection, which species he encountered on his journeys to solve this riddle and just how crucial this bedrock of theory is for science and conservation today.

CMS Executive Secretary, Robert Hepworth, hopes that the bicentenary celebrations will encourage scientists throughout the world to continue developing the scientific base on which CMS and conservation programmes everywhere are built. He said “Darwin is a role model for all those who discover and disseminate new truths from science, and more importantly sets an example for good behaviour in research. A true son of Shrewsbury, he is often misquoted or misunderstood. Yet his core discoveries have been largely vindicated by modern research, particularly through genetic analysis. My favourite quote from Darwin also seems particularly opposite in the present dilemmas faced by the human species: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Link to lecture series at Museum Koenig:

http://www.zfmk.de/web/Museum/Sonderausstellung/2009/200902_Darwin/index.de.html