Its isolated location provides the ideal context for studying the dynamics of insular evolution and natural selection.

UNESCO: World Heritage

These included well known naturalists such as Alfred Russel Wallace, who collected specimens in the Amazon and Malay Archipelago and independently formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Darwin's letters archived on web

"I am quite skeptical that they present detailed, rigorous models of the evolution of the immune system through random mutation and natural selection, " he said.

MSN: Intelligent design vs. stack of science books

Scientist Alfred Russel Wallace, who proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin, corresponded with the great and good of 19th Century society.

BBC: Search for Alfred Russel Wallace's 19th Century letters

The theory of evolution by natural selection states the "fittest" animals or plants are more likely to survive and reproduce.

BBC: Alfred Russel Wallace statue at Natural History Museum

Darwin said evolution occurred by natural selection where the "fittest" animals or plants were more likely to survive and reproduce.

BBC: Bid to preserve Alfred Russel Wallace's birthplace

Wallace, who was born in Monmouthshire and also lived in Neath, was the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

BBC: Alfred Russel Wallace's 19th Century letters go online