From: Myrtle Point Cottage (bolles@qtm.net)
Date: Tue May 20 2003 - 14:07:07 BST
This reply comes from the husband (not yet a member) of a member (Cheryl
Bolles). I write because I think both Platt and Jonathon are a little
confused about species. I hope the following helps.
First, new species are not created (the word implies the existence of a
creator, who is not an agent in evolution), they evolve from pre-existing
species. A small group of individuals, members of a species, may get
permanently separated from their parent group through some natural accident
and find themselves in an environment which is different in some respect
from their original environment (food sources, weather, predators, etc.)
Over time the new group adapts to the new environment by evolving physical
features which enable them to enhance their survival in the new environment.
After many generations of this process, the new group becomes incapable of
interbreeding with their parent species, and are then a new species, by
definition.
The classic example is a small group of birds (maybe as few as five) who are
blown by a storm to a distant island, and are incapable, because of
distance, of returning to their home. They settle down in their new home,
and, if lucky, start raising offspring, some of whom will exhibit minor
mutations which make their survival more possible in the new environment.
This process goes on for many generations, and many years, until visiting
scientists identify the new species. Two things about this process are
important to remember: 1) it takes TIME (many generations, many years), and
2) the process is not directed towards any goal. Its mechanism is chance
mutation. Its outcome, at any stage, is measured by survival.
Secondly, Platt asks "has anyone witnessed...a new species?" Possibly not,
simply because of the time element, but the process has been witnessed by
any number of observors. A moth in London in the nineteenth century was seen
to change its color over a number of generations because of London's
pollution from burning coal. The change made it more difficult for predators
to see the moth against smoke-blackened surfaces, which increased its
survival chances.
You might also read a recent book about two evolutionary biologists (husband
and wife) who spent significant time in the Galapagos Islands observing
Darwin's finches as they responded to changes in their food supply. The
author is Jonathon Weiner (the husband), the book is THE BEAK OF THE FINCH
(publisher A.A.Knopf, 1994). It is well-written, and includes some
interesting family anecdotes, as their fourteen-year old daughter
accompanied them during their stays in the islands.
Don't know if this will help any of you in your pursuit of truth
(remembering Pilate's question), but it may help you think a little more
rigorously about this particular aspect of it.
Bob Bolles
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan B. Marder" <jonathan.marder@newmail.net>
To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 2:42 AM
Subject: MD Origin of Species
>
> Hi all,
>
> Just to underline an earlier discussion (Re: MD What is a living being),
> some of you may like to look at the following story:
>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=624&e=1&u=/ap/20030imps May Have Closer Links to Humans
> 520/ap_on_sc/humans_chimps
>
> Chimps May Have Closer Links to Humans
> By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer
> WASHINGTON - It may be time to move over and share the human branch of the
> family tree with chimpanzees, says a researcher who has studied how
closely
> the two are related.
> . . .
>
> ---original discussion--
>
> PLATT asks:
> Has anyone ever witnessed a new species being created?
>
> JONATHAN replied My stock answer is that new species are created regularly
> and typically it
> happens at scientific conference, or in the publication of a scientific
> paper!!!!
>
>
>
>
>
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