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Topic Title: "knowledge of how species arise"
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Created On: 01/30/2023 01:27 PM
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 01/30/2023 01:27 PM
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WG

Posts: 37257
Joined Forum: 03/10/2005

"This year's Crafoord Laureate in biosciences has demonstrated that Darwin's theories about natural selection are true in practice. Using revolutionary studies of finches and sticklebacks, Dolph Schluter, University of British Columbia, Canada, has provided us with knowledge of how species arise.


It all started on the Galapagos Islands; under the supervision of Rosemary and Peter Grant, Dolph Schluter studied the same type of finches that had interested Charles Darwin in the 1830s. Originally, this interest focused on a species of finch that had migrated from South America. Once the birds had adapted to the islands' various habitats, they diversified into more than a dozen different species, due to a process called adaptive radiation.

The main differences between the finches were their beaks. Surprisingly, Dolph Schluter also found that two species that lived on the same island sometimes displayed greater variation in beak size and shape than between the same two species living on different islands. Beak size and shape played a decisive role in the types of seeds the birds ate, so individuals that no longer needed to compete for the same food source had greater chances of surviving and breeding.

Ecological speciation is the name given to the evolution of species through natural selection, rather than by accumulation of chance mutations. Dolph Schluter asked whether this process could be repeated in other species in similar circumstances. To find the answer, he decided to look more closely at a small fish, the stickleback, which lives in the ocean, but also migrates up to freshwater lakes in British Columbia, Canada, among other places.

And yes, the same thing happened over and over again in several different lake systems. The sticklebacks adapted to the freshwater environment and acquired different traits to those they had in a marine environment. Gradually, differences arose between the sticklebacks in the same lake, with some living at the bottom while others explored the free water mass. After generations of adaptation to their different habitats, their differences were so great that the two types no longer mated.

"Dolph Schluter's studies allowed him to prove that, in the right conditions, Darwin's well-founded thoughts about speciation really do occur in nature. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest authorities on ecology's role in how species arise and diversify," says Kerstin Johannesson, professor of Marine Ecology and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Dolph Schluter continued introducing marine sticklebacks to freshwater ponds, so that he and his colleagues could, in real time and in detail, track the genetic changes in the fish. Natural selection means that the fish with traits that are important for their survival are more likely to reproduce.

As this year's Crafoord Laureate in biosciences, Dolph Schluter receives six million Swedish kronor and will join the select group of outstanding researchers whose work has been rewarded.

"It feels extraordinary to receive this award and be among such company", he says in a comment.

Swedish Academy

-------------------------
"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

Edited: 01/30/2023 at 03:52 PM by WG
 01/30/2023 02:56 PM
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WG

Posts: 37257
Joined Forum: 03/10/2005

CNN article has a little more background.

It seems this prize is often a precursor to a Nobel.

-------------------------
"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill
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