Biologists have discovered that the evolution of a new species can occur rapidly enough for them to observe the process in a simple laboratory flask.
Evolution
Nov 29, 2016
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Birds that are related, such as Darwin's finches, but that vary in beak size and behavior specially evolved to their habitat are examples of a process called speciation. It has long been thought that dramatic changes in a ...
Evolution
Nov 20, 2014
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There is usually no ambiguity about species delineation when distant lineages are compared. For instance, there is no doubt that dogs and cats belong to two different species. However, such distinction becomes less clear-cut ...
Evolution
Dec 27, 2016
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Only a few genetic changes are needed to spur the evolution of new species—even if the original populations are still in contact and exchanging genes. Once started, however, evolutionary divergence evolves rapidly, ultimately ...
Evolution
Oct 31, 2013
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(Phys.org)—A research team working in Israel has found what might possibly be an example of evolutionary divergence in action – and it's not due to a natural barrier. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the ...
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that amphibians that use toxins to protect themselves against predators are at a higher risk of extinction than those who use other types of defence, which poses a challenge ...
Evolution
Oct 19, 2015
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Sometimes evolution proceeds much more rapidly than we might think. Genetic analysis makes it possible to detect the earliest stages of species formation and to gain a better understanding of speciation processes. For example, ...
Ecology
Feb 29, 2016
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A research group at the University of Helsinki discovered the fastest event of speciation in any marine vertebrate when studying flounders in an international research collaboration project. This finding has an important ...
Evolution
May 30, 2017
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When it comes to the biological imperatives of survival and reproduction, nature often finds a way—sometimes more than one way. For a species of flycatcher in the remote Solomon Islands, scientists have so far found at ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 1, 2022
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The deep sea contains more than 90% of the water in our oceans, but only about a third of all fish species. Scientists have long thought the explanation for this was intuitive—shallow ocean waters are warm and full of resources, ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 31, 2022
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