What I'm trying to find out is the minimum amount of time it has taken for one species (it doesn't matter which) to evolve into another distinct species, possibly also how long on average it would take an individual member of that species to reproduce.
I am no expert on the subject of evolution and I may have incorrectly phrased the question. Please forgive me if this is the case and feel free to give whatever answer you can.
2007-09-27 05:15:48 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
Timeponderer - a good specific answer, but the example used has been called into question: the newly evolved generations of fruit flies always remained fruit flies - they did not even become different species of fly, let alone different species of insect, etc...but thanks anyway.
2007-09-27 07:29:27 · update #1
8 generations in fruit flies. Note that the ancestor species need not go extinct.
2007-09-27 06:51:12 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Species are an imprecise, man-made distinction. Some 'speciation' has occurred when populations become geographically isolated in differing environments. That proceeds slowly and incrementally over generations. And that's why geneticists love fruit flies, since you can get a LOT of generations in a human researcher's lifespan. Extinction is more often sudden and due to an environmental change. The extinction of only one variant of a genetically related cluster of organisms would require a very localized environmental change that wouldn't be likely to occur naturally. A good example would be deforestation of an entire microecology of a rainforest.
2007-09-28 18:29:55 · answer #2 · answered by Frank N 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
From my understanding, one distinct species has never evolved into another distinct species. Only into different types of the same species.
2007-09-27 05:24:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋