Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Research on stick insects shows short-term predictable evolution, but long-term changes introduce unpredictability due to random events and new mutations.
Among evolutionary scientists there is a long-standing debate that goes something like this: Does evolution happen in a predictable pattern or does it depend on chance events and contingency? That is, if you could turn back the clock, as celebrated scientist Stephen Jay Gould described in his famous metaphor, “Replaying the Tape of Life,” would life on Earth evolve, once again, as something similar to what we know now, or would it look very, very different?The Complexity of...
Gompert and colleagues report evidence of repeatable evolution in populations of stick insects in the May 24, 2024, online edition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journal. Collaborating authors on the paper include Gompert’s long-time collaborator Patrik Nosil and other researchers from France’s University of Montpelier, Brazil’s Federal University of São Paulo, the University of Nevada, Reno, and Notre Dame University.
Utah State University biologist Zach Gompert and colleagues observe recurring evolutionary changes, over time in stick insects; publish findings in the May 24, 2024, edition of“At short time scales, evolution involving existing variations can be quite predictable,” says Gompert, who received a National Science Foundation CAREER grant in 2019 to support his research. “You can count on certain drivers always being there, such as birds feeding on the insects.
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