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Wednesday 24 February 2016

Weekly Article - Evolution Being Dictated By Human Input

This weeks article touches on the effect humans have the evolution of other species due to the introduction of invasive species. In this case it looks at two Stickleback species in Canada and the effects of the introduction of crayfish into their habitat.

Studies like this are primarily focused on species with short generation times. This has a simple explanation as a species which matures and reproduces rapidly allows a study to assess multiple generations of the species within a few year. Result can then be extrapolated to suggest what the long term effects could be on species which has a longer lifespan and so mature slower. The characteristics of these long lived species means that they have a slower rate of evolution which in the majority of cases is unrealistic to monitor over a real time phase.

The News release

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uobc-hsu022216.php

The published article (you will need a subscription to Current Biology to access more than just the abstract of this paper, sorry I couldn't find it anywhere else with free access)

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(16)00040-3

Thanks for reading!

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