Holy Evolution Batman! We Have a New Species!

[tp2021]

Lewontin and Gould would say that it is irresponsible as an evolutionary biologist to explain all putative speciation as having been driven by natural selection. It could very well just be due to genetic drift. I haven't read the journal article in question, but I would hope that they've tried mating the 2 putative species in the lab to see what kind of offspring, if any, they produce.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

When those birds evolve into dogs or fish you all give me a call.

[mouse]

Wow, I think you must be re ed.

Well when you know for sure stop riding the fence,grow a pair and say so.

And how is going into a topic tossing out a 1997 insult at someone and running for the door not helping you look like a 16 year old?
not to mention it adds nothing to the topic.

[mouse]

When those birds evolve into dogs or fish you all give me a call.

The funny thing is people who seem to hate God or can't stand religion seem to trip over others to be the first to post some sort of earth shattering news about how there is new evidence we came from ape or their is life on another planet.

As if they need that conformation in their lives so they can sleep at night knowing if they die it's ok there was never a God so they don't have to worry about their souls and what sins they have committed in life.

If people today would take 1/2 the passion they have for proving Darwin is right and NASA is needed and put it to something more constructive we may already have a cure for cancer by now.

just another theory I have...

[mouse]

[jacobdrj]

Where does adaptation end and speciation begin?

[tlongII]

Actually, these rapid genetic variations (denoted by change in phenotype) contradict the notion that millions or billions of years are required to drive variation...

All it takes are for a couple of pre-existing genes within a species to be turned on or off. And as noted by the article, the effects of this process can be achieved in relatively few generations... not hundreds of thousands or millions of generations... as we are constantly led to believe.

Darwin believed (or rather presumed) his Galapagos finches required hundreds of thousands of years to adapt to their particular niches... it has been shown however, that such variations can be spurred within a matter of years (tagged finches taken off of mainland Ecuador developed similar features when relocated to the Cayman Islands after only a couple of generations)... Darwin's observations were ingenuously notable... his conclusions from those observations... not so much...

But... each side is going to see in these articles only what they want to see... regardless of the truths in the biological processes at play...

Please explain the unique flora and fauna found on the continent of Australia. Do you believe that the continent of Australia broke off from the Eurasian supercontinent just a few thousand years ago? Or do you believe it was always in its present location?

[Phenomanul]

Please explain the unique flora and fauna found on the continent of Australia. Do you believe that the continent of Australia broke off from the Eurasian supercontinent just a few thousand years ago? Or do you believe it was always in its present location?

Rapid variation can occur over thousands of years... how does this adversely change what you presume I believe?

[tlongII]

Rapid variation can occur over thousands of years... how does this adversely change what you presume I believe?

Do you believe that the continent of Australia broke off from the Eurasian supercontinent just a few thousand years ago? Or do you believe it was always in its present location?

You're not really answering the question, are you?

[Phenomanul]

You're not really answering the question, are you?

I did... but apparently you missed it... fact of the matter is you posited at least two questions. I answered one. The other is irrelevant - based on the premise of the first.

[tlongII]

I did... but apparently you missed it... fact of the matter is you posited at least two questions. I answered one. The other is irrelevant - based on the premise of the first.

So your premise that species variation can occur over thousands of years makes the question of how long ago Australia separated itself from the greater Eurasian continent moot? Got it!

[Phenomanul]

So your premise that species variation can occur over thousands of years makes the question of how long ago Australia separated itself from the greater Eurasian continent moot? Got it!

Pretty much... yep... in light of the entrapment you thought to have created.