The English scientist who independently codiscovered the theory of natural selection was:

a. Alfred Russell Wallace.

b. Charles Lyell.

c. Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck.

d. Carolus Linnaeus.

A. Alfred Russel Wallace

Explanation:

Alfred Russell Wallace came up with the theory of evolution a year before Charles Darwin. He was British naturalist. Wallace co-discovered the theory but Charles Darwin got the credit for theory of evolution. He developed his ideas during eight - year expedition to the Indonesia (Dutch Est Indies), there he observed wildlife and collected specimens. He collected more than 95000 animal, bird and insect species.

In 1855 he reached the conclusion that all living things evolve. He came up with the idea that animals evolve by adapting to their environment when he was ill with fever. He wrote this theory and sent it to Charles Darwin for peer review. But Darwin had reached the same conclusion years earlier, he published a joint paper in 1858 after receiving Wallace's paper.