Groundbreaking CSU Study Finds Changing Environment Can Lead to Rapid Evolution
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 - 14:30
in Biology & Nature
Results of a groundbreaking Colorado State University study which were published this week in the journal Nature, show that guppies from transplanted populations initially respond to a lack of predators with coping mechanisms that include changes in the expression of genes in the brain; some of the changes were beneficial, while others were disadvantageous. When the researchers compared how the brains of the introduced guppies evolved to incorporate the initial coping responses, they found that the genes that exhibited the initially maladaptive responses evolved rapidly to allow future generations to thrive better in the new environment. The study, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, is being hailed as groundbreaking.