A New Bird Species Has Evolved on Galapagos And Scientists Watched It Happen

[GMDino]

https://sciencealert.com/darwin-s-finches-evolve-into-new-species-in-real-time-two-generations-galapagos

Quote:It's the first time humans have seen this in the wild.

MICHELLE STARR
24 NOV 2017


For the first time, scientists have been able to observe something amazing: the evolution of a completely new species, in the wild, in real-time. And it took just two generations.

Now, genomic sequencing and the analysis of physical characteristics have confirmed the new species of Darwin's finch, endemic to a small island called Daphne Major in the Galápagos. Its discoverers have nicknamed it Big Bird.

There are at least 15 species of Darwin's finches, so named because their diversity helped famed naturalist Charles Darwin figure out his theory of evolution by natural selection - that is, mutations can help species become better adapted to their environment, and be passed down to subsequent generations.

It's two of these species that came together in what is called species hybridisation to create an entirely new one.

Here's what Big Bird looks like. ( P. R. Grant)

While on expedition on the Daphne Major island, Peter and B. Rosemary Grant, biologists at Princeton University, noticed the presence of a non-native interloper, Geospiza conirostris.

It's also known as the large cactus finch, and is native to other Galapagos islands, namely Española, Genovesa, Darwin, and Wolf.

As one of the larger species of Darwin's finches, and with a different song than the three native Daphne Major species, the newcomer - a male - stood out.

"We didn't see him fly in from over the sea, but we noticed him shortly after he arrived. He was so different from the other birds that we knew he did not hatch from an egg on Daphne Major," Peter Grant said.

But then it mated with two females of one of those native species, Geospiza fortis, the medium ground finch. And the mating produced offspring.

Mating between different species that results in offspring isn't that unusual - famous examples include mules, the product of mating between a male donkey and a mare. There are also ligers, a cross between a male lion and female tiger.

G. conirostris (left) and G. fortis (right). ( K. T. Grant and B. R. Grant)

But hybrid species are often sterile, or reproduce with difficulty - and that did not prove to be the case with these new chicks. A new lineage began - it had to.

The birds had a different song from G. fortis, as well as different beak size and shape, and these are what the finches use to attract mates. Reproductively, the new species was completely isolated, and had to mate within its own kind to survive.

But it was an uphill battle. During droughts on the island in 2002-2003, when the new lineage was in its fourth generation, all but two of the birds died.

Then they rallied.

"When the rains came again, the brother and sister mated with each other and produced 26 offspring," Rosemary Grant said in an interview last year.

"All but nine survived to breed - a son bred with his mother, a daughter with her father, and the rest of the offspring with each other - producing a terrifically inbred lineage."

Because the hybrid finches were bigger than the native populations, they were able to access previously unexploited food choices, and survive. At the Grants' most recent visit to the island in 2012, they counted 23 individuals and 8 breeding pairs of the birds.

This success means, the researchers noted, that hybridisation could have occurred many times in Darwin's finches in the past, resulting in new species that either became extinct or evolved to become the species we know today.

"A naturalist who came to Daphne Major without knowing that this lineage arose very recently would have recognised this lineage as one of the four species on the island," said Leif Andersson of Uppsala University in Sweden, who conducted the genetic analysis. "This clearly demonstrates the value of long-running field studies."

Charles Darwin would have been delighted.

If you want to read more about the Grants' work, you can't go past the Pulitzer-winning The Beak of the Finch.

And you can find the new paper in the journal Science.

[BmorePat87]

One article said the Catcus Finch flew 65 miles from its home island to this one, a remarkable trip they're not usually able to make. Pretty crazy how that event led to this.

[Vas Deferens]

It was clearly an immaculate conception type event.

[Johnny Cupcakes]

Evolution is liberal conspiracy just like white male privilege and climate change.

[GMDino]

(01-08-2018, 11:07 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: Evolution is liberal conspiracy just like white male privilege and climate change.

Almost makes wish old whatshisname was around to demand video proof of evolution....

[Vlad]

A thread about a bird in P&R?

I assumed it was about a species discovered to have a lower IQ than a liberal.lol

[Vlad]

(01-08-2018, 11:07 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: Evolution is liberal conspiracy just like white male privilege and climate change.

MMGW is a conspiracy absolutely.

The underlying reason for propagating the lie that emitting CO2 into the atmosphere will result in some future cataclysmic event is for the redistribution of wealth globally.
Thanks to President Trump for seeing through the scam and pulling out of the Paris accord thereby saving 3 Trillion of taxpayer dollars.

[GMDino]

(01-09-2018, 04:58 AM)Vlad Wrote: MMGW is a conspiracy absolutely.

The underlying reason for propagating the lie that emitting CO2 into the atmosphere will result in some future cataclysmic event is for the redistribution of wealth globally.
Thanks to President Trump for seeing through the scam and pulling out of the Paris accord thereby saving 3 Trillion of taxpayer dollars.

And then redistributed it to himself and his ultra-rich buddies instead?  Good call!  

[Johnny Cupcakes]

(01-09-2018, 04:58 AM)Vlad Wrote: MMGW is a conspiracy absolutely.

The underlying reason for propagating the lie that emitting CO2 into the atmosphere will result in some future cataclysmic event is for the redistribution of wealth globally.
Thanks to President Trump for seeing through the scam and pulling out of the Paris accord thereby saving 3 Trillion of taxpayer dollars.

Ha....ok.


I'll pass on completely derailing this to a climate change debate.

If you want to get schooled on the subject, start a thread and I'll explain things to you while you bury your head in the sand and talk about liberals and conspiracies all day.

[Johnny Cupcakes]

(01-05-2018, 03:28 PM)GMDino Wrote: "All but nine survived to breed - a son bred with his mother, a daughter with her father, and the rest of the offspring with each other - producing a terrifically inbred lineage."

[Dill]

(01-09-2018, 03:34 AM)Vlad Wrote: A thread about a bird in P&R?

I assumed it was about a species discovered to have a lower IQ than a liberal.lol

(01-09-2018, 04:58 AM)Vlad Wrote: MMGW is a conspiracy absolutely.

The underlying reason for propagating the lie that emitting CO2 into the atmosphere will result in some future cataclysmic event is for the redistribution of wealth globally.
Thanks to President Trump for seeing through the scam and pulling out of the Paris accord thereby saving 3 Trillion of taxpayer dollars.

[*michaelsean*]

Is this really evolution of a new species as we understand it? It’s more like a new species was created by the mating of two different species. The remarkable thing being the offspring are able to reproduce.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

I didn't think mixed-breeding animals was considered evolution. I mean, nobody watched a Labrador and Poodle bone, pop out a Labradoodle, and went "evolution!"

This seems like an awfully click-bait article title by throwing the word evolution in there.

[Belsnickel]

(01-09-2018, 09:59 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Is this really evolution of a new species as we understand it? It’s more like a new species was created by the mating of two different species. The remarkable thing being the offspring are able to reproduce.

(01-10-2018, 01:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I didn't think mixed-breeding animals was considered evolution. I mean, nobody watched a Labrador and Poodle bone, pop out a Labradoodle, and went "evolution!"

This seems like an awfully click-bait article title by throwing the word evolution in there.

Based on the evidence they present, speciation occurred. Speciation, the creation of a new species, is evolution. Now, creating new breeds may not be speciation, but it is an evolutionary process. The process by which dog breeds are created is selecting preferred traits, and breeding animals in an attempt to create offspring with those inheritable traits.

We often like to think of evolution purely as natural selection, the process Darwin championed, but the truth is much broader. Evolution was a theory prior to Darwin, and it has been studied and polished since.

[*michaelsean*]

(01-10-2018, 02:31 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Based on the evidence they present, speciation occurred. Speciation, the creation of a new species, is evolution. Now, creating new breeds may not be speciation, but it is an evolutionary process. The process by which dog breeds are created is selecting preferred traits, and breeding animals in an attempt to create offspring with those inheritable traits.

We often like to think of evolution purely as natural selection, the process Darwin championed, but the truth is much broader. Evolution was a theory prior to Darwin, and it has been studied and polished since.

Mutation or bust.  That's the cool stuff.

[Dill]

(01-10-2018, 01:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I didn't think mixed-breeding animals was considered evolution. I mean, nobody watched a Labrador and Poodle bone, pop out a Labradoodle, and went "evolution!"

This seems like an awfully click-bait article title by throwing the word evolution in there.

A labrador and a poodle are the same species.  All domestic dogs are a subspecies of Canis Lupus, all descended from the wolf.

[BmorePat87]

(01-10-2018, 02:33 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Mutation or bust.  That's the cool stuff.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Way better evolution... a random mutation creates an asexual hyper-reproductive species. Now the question is... can they reproduce in space? Need to find that good protein source.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/science/mutant-crayfish-clones-europe.html

Quote:Frank Lyko, a biologist at the German Cancer Research Center, studies the six-inch-long marbled crayfish. Finding specimens is easy: Dr. Lyko can buy the crayfish at pet stores in Germany, or he can head with colleagues to a nearby lake.

Wait till dark, switch on head lamps, and wander into the shallows. The marbled crayfish will emerge from hiding and begin swarming around your ankles.

“It’s extremely impressive,” said Dr. Lyko. “Three of us once caught 150 animals within one hour, just with our hands.”

Over the past five years, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues have sequenced the genomes of marbled crayfish. In a study published on Monday, the researchers demonstrate that the marble crayfish, while common, is one of the most remarkable species known to science.

Before about 25 years ago, the species simply did not exist. A single drastic mutation in a single crayfish produced the marbled crayfish in an instant.
Continue reading the main story
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Richard Shieldhouse 2 hours ago

A little searching reveals the slough crayfish is widespread in Florida. See this link to a PowerPoint presentation on crayfish species in...
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NYT Subscriber here, when will the Marbled Crayfish rolls be on NYT cooking?
Post motherhood 2 hours ago

Are they good to eat - can they be cooked into gumbo? Seriously.

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The mutation made it possible for the creature to clone itself, and now it has spread across much of Europe and gained a toehold on other continents. In Madagascar, where it arrived about 2007, it now numbers in the millions and threatens native crayfish.

“We may never have caught the genome of a species so soon after it became a species,” said Zen Faulkes, a biologist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, who was not involved in the new study.

The marbled crayfish became popular among German aquarium hobbyists in the late 1990s. The earliest report of the creature comes from a hobbyist who told Dr. Lyko he bought what were described to him as “Texas crayfish” in 1995.

The hobbyist — whom Dr. Lyko declined to identify — was struck by the large size of the crayfish and its enormous batches of eggs. A single marbled crayfish can produce hundreds of eggs at a time.

Soon the hobbyist was giving away the crayfish to his friends. And not long afterward, so-called marmorkrebs were showing up in pet stores in Germany and beyond.

As marmorkrebs became more popular, owners grew increasingly puzzled. The crayfish seemed to be laying eggs without mating. The progeny were all female, and each one grew up ready to reproduce.

In 2003, scientists confirmed that the marbled crayfish were indeed making clones of themselves. They sequenced small bits of DNA from the animals, which bore a striking similarity to a group of crayfish species called Procambarus, native to North America and Central America.

Ten years later, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues set out to determine the entire genome of the marbled crayfish. By then, it was no longer just an aquarium oddity.

For nearly two decades, marbled crayfish have been multiplying like Tribbles on the legendary “Star Trek” episode. “People would start out with a single animal, and a year later they would have a couple hundred,” said Dr. Lyko.

Many owners apparently drove to nearby lakes and dumped their marmorkrebs. And it turned out that the marbled crayfish didn’t need to be pampered to thrive. Marmorkrebs established growing populations in the wild, sometimes walking hundreds of yards to reach new lakes and streams. Feral populations started turning up in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine in Europe, and later in Japan and Madagascar.

Sequencing the genome of this animal was not easy: No one had sequenced the genome of a crayfish. In fact, no one had ever sequenced any close relative of crayfish.

Dr. Lyko and his colleagues struggled for years to piece together fragments of DNA into a single map of its genome. Once they succeeded, they sequenced the genomes of 15 other specimens, including marbled crayfish living in German lakes and those belonging to other species.

The rich genetic detail gave the scientists a much clearer look at the freakish origins of the marbled crayfish.

It apparently evolved from a species known as the slough crayfish, Procambarus fallax, which lives only in the tributaries of the Satilla River in Florida and Georgia.

The scientists concluded that the new species got its start when two slough crayfish mated. One of them had a mutation in a sex cell — whether it was an egg or sperm, the scientists can’t tell.

Normal sex cells contain a single copy of each chromosome. But the mutant crayfish sex cell had two.

Somehow the two sex cells fused and produced a female crayfish embryo with three copies of each chromosome instead of the normal two. Somehow, too, the new crayfish didn’t suffer any deformities as a result of all that extra DNA.

It grew and thrived. But instead of reproducing sexually, the first marbled crayfish was able to induce her own eggs to start dividing into embryos. The offspring, all females, inherited identical copies of her three sets of chromosomes. They were clones.

Now that their chromosomes were mismatched with those of slough crayfish, they could no longer produce viable offspring. Male slough crayfish will readily mate with the marbled crayfish, but they never father any of the offspring.

In December, Dr. Lyko and his colleagues officially declared the marbled crayfish to be a species of its own, which they named Procambarus virginalis. The scientists can’t say for sure where the species began. There are no wild populations of marble crayfish in the United States, so it’s conceivable that the new species arose in a German aquarium.

All the marbled crayfish Dr. Lyko’s team studied were almost genetically identical to one another. Yet that single genome has allowed the clones to thrive in all manner of habitats — from abandoned coal fields in Germany to rice paddies in Madagascar.

In their new study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the researchers show that the marbled crayfish has spread across Madagascar at an astonishing pace, across an area the size of Indiana in about a decade.

Thanks to the young age of the species, marbled crayfish could shed light on one of the big mysteries about the animal kingdom: why so many animals have sex.

Only about 1 in 10,000 species comprise cloning females. Many studies suggest that sex-free species are rare because they don’t last long.

In one such study, Abraham E. Tucker of Southern Arkansas University and his colleagues studied 11 asexual species of water fleas, a tiny kind of invertebrate. Their DNA indicates that the species only evolved about 1,250 years ago.

There are a lot of clear advantages to being a clone. Marbled crayfish produce nothing but fertile offspring, allowing their populations to explode. “Asexuality is a fantastic short-term strategy,” said Dr. Tucker.

In the long term, however, there are benefits to sex. Sexually reproducing animals may be better at fighting of diseases, for example.

If a pathogen evolves a way to attack one clone, its strategy will succeed on every clone. Sexually reproducing species mix their genes together into new combinations, increasing their odds of developing a defense.

The marbled crayfish offers scientists a chance to watch this drama play out practically from the beginning. In its first couple decades, it’s doing extremely well. But sooner or later, the marbled crayfish’s fortunes may well turn.

“Maybe they just survive for 100,000 years,” Dr. Lyko speculated. “That would be a long time for me personally, but in evolution it would just be a blip on the radar.”