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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 08:34 AM Apr 2013

Environmental change 'triggers rapid evolution'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22039872


Researchers were surprised how quickly the mites evolved as a result of environmental changes

Changes to their surroundings can trigger "rapid evolution" in species as they adopt traits to help them survive in the new conditions, a study shows.

Studying soil mites in a laboratory, researchers found that the invertebrates' age of maturity almost doubled in just 20-or-so generations.

It had been assumed that evolutionary change only occurred over a much longer timescale.

The findings have been published in the journal Ecology Letters.
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Environmental change 'triggers rapid evolution' (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2013 OP
Some species have deep genetic toolkits, some don't. hunter Apr 2013 #1
I read a great book a while ago... phantom power Apr 2013 #2
Excellent summary. Nihil Apr 2013 #3

hunter

(38,264 posts)
1. Some species have deep genetic toolkits, some don't.
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 11:29 AM
Apr 2013

Evolving novel genes is the rarer "over millions of years case," but lightly tweaking the settings of an existing genetic toolkit can happen at a very rapid rate. Combining these minor adjustments with sexual recombination and natural selection makes some species are capable of rapid evolution when environments change.

Species like dogs, people, or these mites, apparently have deep genetic toolkits and can adapt to changing environments rapidly. In a sense the process of evolution itself is built into the genetic toolkit.

phantom power

(25,966 posts)
2. I read a great book a while ago...
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 11:53 AM
Apr 2013

Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems:
http://www.amazon.com/Robustness-Evolvability-Living-Systems-Complexity/dp/0691134049

The main take-away was that many mutations are essentially fitness-neutral, and a population of organisms can accumulate a lot of them over time. In times when the fitness landscape is more or less static, they represent a sort of latent pool of variation. When the fitness landscape changes, say climate change, or evolution in the other members of the local ecosystem, some of these latent neutral variations suddenly become non-neutral with respect to fitness and are now raw material for natural selection.

In other words, all species are likely to have a deeper "toolkit" than we used to think.

 

Nihil

(13,508 posts)
3. Excellent summary.
Wed Apr 10, 2013, 04:29 AM
Apr 2013

> The main take-away was that many mutations are essentially fitness-neutral, and a population
> of organisms can accumulate a lot of them over time. In times when the fitness landscape is
> more or less static, they represent a sort of latent pool of variation. When the fitness landscape
> changes, say climate change, or evolution in the other members of the local ecosystem, some
> of these latent neutral variations suddenly become non-neutral with respect to fitness and are
> now raw material for natural selection.

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