By: Becky Nitschelm
Author: Unknown
Date of Publication: January 10th 2014
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140110103720.htm
Summary: A study was recently published by the University of California, Riverside, Indiana University, Purdue University, Fort Wayne, and George Washington University that supported one of Darwin's theories made in the Galapagos. The study states that animals on islands are tamer than those on the mainland. They discovered that the farther away from the mainland the island is, the tamer the animals. The study explains that natural selection is the reason for the tameness. Due to the lack of predators on remote islands, many animals no longer needed to be able to escape from predators. So, the animals without those functions could use there energy in some other way that is beneficial to them. This allowed them to reproduce more and, therefore, those genes were passed on, eventually adapting to their environment.
Connection: We have been studying Darwin and his theory of natural selection. This study is directly related to him because he made this very conclusion while at in the Galapagos. He noticed too that animals were much tamer on the island than the mainland. This study supports his ideas. Also, we are learning about natural selection a lot. In this study it shows an odd twist to natural selection where animals actually lose a trait in order to be better suited to their environment. However, even though animals are losing a trait they are still adapting to their environment, a topic we have been recently studying, because they are changing/evolving to survive.
Why are there no predators on remote islands? Is it perhaps because a small island would not be able to support species with a high trophic level?
ReplyDeleteThere are still predators on remote islands. However, there are less predators maybe because when islands were made, they were so remote from the mainland that less predators dispersed onto them. The prey species were used to more predators on the mainland. I think that islands can still support species with a high trophic levels because there is still animals on lower trophic levels that they can feed on. However, the amount of predator to prey ratio does have to be very similar to that on the mainland for the animals in the higher trophic levels to survive.
DeleteWould this theory ever be able to be applied to predators as well? As in, predators become more tame on remote islands, or is it possible to use this theory to tame predators over time by providing them enough food so that eventually their predatory instincts evolve out of their genes?
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