Ernst Mayr was a German-American evolutionary biologist and ornithologist renowned for his contributions to the field of evolutionary biology. His work on the concept of biological species and the importance of geographic isolation in speciation helped shape modern evolutionary theory. Mayr's influential books, such as "Systematics and the Origin of Species," continue to be essential reading for understanding evolutionary processes. His research greatly impacted our understanding of biodiversity and species formation.

"All I claimed was that when a drastic change occurs, it occurs in a relatively small and isolated population."



"Evolution thus is merely contingent on certain processes articulated by Darwin: variation and selection."



"Living in an entirely different physical as well as biotic environment, such a population would have unique opportunities to enter new niches and to select novel adaptive pathways."



"In those early years in New York when I was a stranger in a big city, it was the companionship and later friendship which I was offered in the Linnean Society that was the most important thing in my life."



"New gene pools are generated in every generation, and evolution takes place because the successful individuals produced by these gene pools give rise to the next generation."



"I had found again and again that the most aberrant population of a species - often having reached species rank, and occasionally classified even as a separate genus - occurred at a peripheral location, indeed usually at the most isolated peripheral location."



"Most of them are doomed to rapid extinction, but a few may make evolutionary inventions, such as physiological, ecological, or behavioral innovations that give these species improved competitive potential."

