How Fast Can Evolution Move, Exactly?
Wed, Apr 23, 2008
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It’s always been a cornerstone of Darwinian theory that evolution moves at an achingly slow pace. So slow in fact, that us humans can’t notice it and have to examine the archaeological record to confirm it.
Image from estelucy
Recently, however, there have been some high-profile exceptions to that, like the evolution-on-steroids at Bikini Atoll, and now there’s a lizard that evolved into a new form in 40 years.
Despite radiation being a bit of a write-off in this situation, the example cast by lizards is most certainly not redundant. Wall lizards have developed an entirely new gastrointestinal tract, head, and more powerful bite all during a 40-year period. This is of course, after being isolated on an island by scientists in the 1970s.
The original population of ten lizards, which over 30 generations required to evolve these traits, has mushroomed to a population of more than 5,000.
The scientists are in a state of debate over whether the changes are based in genetics or what they call a “plastic response”: a direct reaction to the habitat the lizards were living in.
Either way, this experiment-by-accident, has left researchers astounded at the amount of change that can take place in an island environment, and potentially, this has shed some light on evolution as a whole.
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“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else.”
September 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I don’t understand why I see all of these articles online and not in the mainstream media.
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 am
genetics and adaptation are inseperable. the alleged scientific debate is malarkey: natural selection tells us that the creatures with genetic traits more suited to their environment are more likely to reproduce, and pass along their advantage, and so forth. tis not one or the other, ’tis both.