Darwin Praeger and the Clare Island Surveys

This book comprises a series of essays on Darwin and his impact on Ireland. Darwin’s ideas migrated to Ireland when in 1909-11 Robert Lloyd Praeger brought a group of 100 eminent European scientists to Clare Island to map the flora, fauna, geology and archaeology of the small, exposed Atlantic island. The gathering led to the publication of the path-breaking `Clare Island Survey’. Praeger and his peers investigated areas at the heart of Darwin’s work, ‘throwing light on the question of island life and the problems of dispersal’. A century later the survey was repeated as the ‘New Survey of Clare Island’ (1992-2009) and both works are published extensively by the Royal Irish Academy. This modern, 48-page illustrated volume celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first `Clare Island Survey’ and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. The authors consider the relevance of the first survey’s findings, highlighting the insights gained into the increasingly important issues of turnover of species, climate change and loss of habitat.