Evidence for contemporary evolution during Darwin's lifetime

SummaryDarwin's On the Origin of Species [1] introduced the world to the most fundamental concept in biological sciences — evolution. However, in the 150 years following publication of his seminal work, much has been made of the fact that Darwin was missing at least one crucial link in his chain of evidence — he had no evidence for contemporary evolution through natural selection. Indeed, as one commentator noted on the centenary of the publication of Origin, “Had Darwin observed industrial melanism he would have seen evolution occurring not in thousands of years but in thousands of days - well within his lifetime. He would have witnessed the consummation and confirmation of his life's work” [2]