Castaway lizards provide insight into elusive evolutionary process, founder effects
Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 16:31
in Biology & Nature
A biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between evolutionary processes that are seldom observed. He found that the lizards' genetic and morphological traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called founder effects, which occur when species colonize new territory.