Final answer:
Early tropical natural historians include Sir Hans Sloane, Sir Joseph Banks, Robert Hooke, Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace, who made seminal contributions to the fields of botany, geology, and evolutionary biology.
Step-by-step explanation:
Some of the earliest natural historians and scientists who made significant contributions to the study of tropical flora and fauna include English naturalist Sir Hans Sloane, who is known for his work in cataloging plants in Jamaica. Botanist Sir Joseph Banks was a pioneering illustrator and naturalist who accompanied Captain James Cook to document thousands of plants and wildlife across the Pacific islands, Australia, and New Zealand. Other notable figures include Robert Hooke, who first suggested that fossils were remains of once living organisms, indicating changes in nature over time, and Charles Lyell, a prominent geologist whose work suggested Earth was significantly older than previously believed. In the field of evolutionary biology, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace made historic contributions, notably with Darwin's observations in the Galápagos Islands leading to the theory of natural selection.