Are Lemons going through Evolution?

Question

Back when I was a little kid, nearly every lemon I would see have 8 wedges inside. Recently, i've noticed that every lemon NOW that I get has 9 wedges inside. Are Lemons going through Evolution?!

Answer 1

Yes lemons are evolving.

If you're talking purely natural evolution (natural selection), it is *incredibly* unlikely that they would have evolved enough in the 10? 15? 20? years since you were a little kid. Natural evolution takes hundreds of thousands to millions of years.

However, if you're talking human-assisted evolution (also known as "artificial breeding") then YES, that is possible. (I.e. a few decades of farmers breeding big lemons with big lemons ... the way that farmers compete in agriculture shows. That is human-assisted evolution ... basically humans manipulating the environmental pressures that cause things to evolve.)

Answer 2

9 wedges is a dominant gene in lemons, just like how blondes are going extinct, so are 8 wedged lemons.
Plants don't evolve that quickly, only dominant genes are butting out the recessive genes.

Answer 3

No, they're going through genetic engineering. If they can make bigger lemons, they can make more money.

Or it could just be a different variety of lemon.

And everything is going through evolution, just very slowly in most cases.

Answer 4

Yes they are going through evolution and in a few centuries they will have evolved into a Yugo.

Answer 5

If you want the real stuff, then buy organic products...these "new" lemons are genetically modified. They add an extra chromosome to bulge it up...an extra chromosome in human beings = mentally retarded (no joke).

Answer 6

genetically altered or just they kind of evolve them artificially. mate the biggest female with biggest male, mate that one with a bigger one, etc. eventually you get bigger and bigger so it is sort of like evolution