Re: Rapidly Evolvling Lizards may not be evolving at all.
- From: coaster <coasterpro@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:51:18 -0700 (PDT)
On Apr 30, 12:18 pm, "Robert J. Kolker" <bobkol...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If you put Mr. Lizard in an environment in which he can flourish because
food is plentiful and there are not predators to compete with him, then
it looks like he evolved. But this is not necessarily the case. He may
be flourishing, which is not the same as evolving.
Natural selection can be as much a friend as a foe. Put a life form in
the right environment and it will flourish without any radical change to
its genome.
Bob Kolker
This is conceivably true. An invasive species could, by pure chance,
find its self in an environment in which it is even more fit than the
environment within which it evolved. Provided that the population's
new environment remains relatively stable, or changes in the new
environment fail to affect the population's overall fitness, then
there is every reason to assume that, although the species will
continue to evolve, it will remain relatively unchanged in appearance
throughout the eons; or as long as the stability/luck lasts. The
questions are; How often does this really happen? Under what
conditions is it most likely to happen? What are the implications if
it does happen? And are invasive species really seamless with respect
to their environment, or are there key ways of identifying one?
.
- References:
- Rapidly Evolvling Lizards may not be evolving at all.
- From: Robert J. Kolker
- Rapidly Evolvling Lizards may not be evolving at all.
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