Darwin was influenced by Charles Lyell's ideas of environmental change causing ecological shifts, leading to what Augustin de Candolle had called a war between competing plant species, competition well described by the botanist William Herbert.
Darwin foi influenciado polas ideas de Charles Lyell do cambio ambiental que causaba cambios ecolóxicos, que orixinaban o que Augustin de Candolle chamara unha guerra entre especies de plantas en competencia, competición que foi ben descrita polo botánico William Herbert.