Scientists reveal driving force behind evolution

The team observed viruses as they evolved over hundreds of generations to infect bacteria. They found that when the bacteria could evolve defences, the viruses evolved at a quicker rate and generated greater diversity, compared to situations where the bacteria were unable to adapt to the viral infection.

The study shows, for the first time, that the American evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen was correct in his 'Red Queen Hypothesis'. The theory, first put forward in the 1970s, was named after a passage in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass in which the Red Queen tells Alice, 'It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place'. This suggested that species were in a constant race for survival and have to continue to evolve new ways of defending themselves throughout time.

Dr Steve Paterson, from the University's School of Biosciences, explains: "Historically, it was assumed that most evolution was driven by a need to adapt to the environment or habitat. The Red Queen Hypothesis challenged this by pointing out that actually most natural selection will arise from co-evolutionary interactions with other species, not from interactions with the environment.

"This suggested that evolutionary change was created by 'tit-for-tat' adaptations by species in constant combat. This theory is widely accepted in the science community, but this is the first time we have been able to show evidence of it in an experiment with living things."

www.physorg.com...

It would seem to me that this would have been obvious. I mean not that enviromental changes should not be examined aswell, but that all factors should be looked at together. How can we describe evolution if we pick and choose what we consider to be a driving force?

Thanks for the post! One more step up on understanding our Human history. Not long and we might know everything we need to know about our history.

I don't really see what's so new about this.

I mean, the hypothesis has always been that species evolve to adapt to their surroundings, obviously this also includes other animals & organisms.

There are many clear examples of evolutionary traits that are symbiotic to other species or targeted offensively or defensively at other species.


Personally I would consider this a characteristic of evolution, not a driving force.

I have yet to hear a plausible scientific explanation for a driving force behind evolution. It flies completely in the face of entropy which, as I understand it is considered the dominant mechanism in the universe.

Evolution does not have to fly in the face of thermodynamics. It's all a matter of perspective.

If random changes in DNA lead to a better trait that in turn gets passed to the next generation then entropy has increased and evolution has taken place.

As long as the amount of randomness increases then no violations have taken place. What seems like a refinement that would lower entropy is actually rooted in an event that initially increased overall entropy.

Kind of a hard concept to follow, but allows both evoltuion and thermodynamics to keep there good names.