Maybe Evolution Will Save Us From Environmental Change
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - 11:10
in Biology & Nature
Some assume that evolution only occurs gradually, over hundreds or thousands of years, but scientists have shown otherwise numerous times and now a new paper in Ecology Letters affirms that environmental change can drive hard-wired evolutionary changes in animal species in a matter of generations. Researchers found significant genetically transmitted changes in laboratory populations of soil mites in just 15 generations leading to a doubling of the age at which the mites reached adulthood and large changes in population size. The results demonstrate that evolution can be a game-changer, even in the short-term. read more