Abstract:
Extinction events impact the trajectory of biological evolution significantly. They are often viewed as upheavals to the evolutionary process. In contrast, this paper supports the hypothesis that although they are unpredictably destructive, extinction events may in the long term accelerate evolution by increasing evolvability. In particular, if extinction events extinguish indiscriminately many ways of life, indirectly they may select for the ability to expand rapidly through vacated niches. Lineages with such an ability are more likely to persist through multiple extinctions. Lending computational support for this hypothesis, this paper shows how increased evolvability will result from simulated extinction events in two computational models of evolved behavior. The conclusion is that although they are destructive in the short term, extinction events may make evolution more prolific in the long term.
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132886
The university of Texas at Austin news:
A computer science team at The University of Texas at Austin has found that robots evolve more quickly and efficiently after a virtual mass extinction modeled after real-life disasters such as the one that killed off the dinosaurs. Beyond its implications for artificial intelligence, the research supports the idea that mass extinctions actually speed up evolution by unleashing new creativity in adaptations.
http://news.utexas.edu/2015/08/12/mass-extinctions-can-accelerate-evolution
Some questions that came in my mind:
Can this scenario be applied to the currently expected mass extinctions? Are we speeding up evolution? Is our impact morally less questionable?
Dear Robert,
I feel that there is no singular "right" answer to your question. In any case, I would not use the wording "unleashing new creativity" in this context, especially when you use the word "evolution" in your question. Mass extinction may provide opportunities for certain (groups of) species, which may lead to accelerated evolution of such groups, like for example the mammals after extinction of large dinosaurs. But I guess I have to emphasize "MAY", because it depends on the opportunities that are "released" by the mass extinction in question. Your last question I do not understand exactly; better after answering your question?
Dear Robert,
Environmental fluctuations significantly impact species diversity and ecosystem productivity, and they have a major impact on the evolution of
organisms. Seasonal fluctuations, natural disasters, and global change have different effects on organisms and their ability to acclimatize and adapt. For example, a simulation study by Piotr Bentkowsk et al (2015) analysed the effects of stable and fluctuating environments on genome size evolution for prokaryotes, showing that perturbations increase genome size (number of genes). In turn, this can make them more resilient to environmental fluctuations. See: doi:10.1093/gbe/evv148.
Perhaps a more important driver of evolution in the current environment is the (human-associated) migration of organisms across the world. This can accelerate evolution through hybridisation, and such genetic introgression after hybridisation is thought to have been instrumental in several radiation events, including the cichlids of the African Lakes (Article Secondary contact seeds phenotypic novelty in cichlid fishes
).Best wishes, Cock
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