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Studying bat skulls, evolutionary biologists discover how species evolve

Started by Tank, November 23, 2011, 07:58:21 PM

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Tank

Studying bat skulls, evolutionary biologists discover how species evolve

QuoteA new study involving bat skulls, bite force measurements and scat samples collected by an international team of evolutionary biologists is helping to solve a nagging question of evolution: Why some groups of animals develop scores of different species over time while others evolve only a few. Their findings appear in the current issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

..."This study conducted during the International Year of the Bat offers a clear example of how the evolution of new traits, in this case a skull with a new shape, allowed animals to use new resources and eventually, to rapidly evolve into many new species," Dumont says. "We found that when a new ecological niche opened up with an opportunity for bats that could eat hard fruits, they shifted their diet significantly, which in turn led to the evolution of new species."...

An interesting piece of research.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Recusant

Thank you for posting that, Tank. I contribute elsewhere to a long running thread in which evidence "pro and con" regarding evolution is compiled. I've used articles you've posted here at HAF more than once there.

As you might imagine, the "pro" material far outnumbers the "con."
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Pharaoh Cat

This is the kind of science I especially love.

Another quote from the article:

Quote
One hypothesis is that the evolution of a trait, such as head shape, that gives access to new resources can lead to the rapid evolution of many new species. As Dumont and Dávalos explain, connecting changes in body structure to an ecological opportunity requires showing that a significant increase in the number of species occurred in tandem with the appearance of new anatomical traits, and that those traits are associated with enhanced resource use.

Make an intuitive leap.  Frame a testable hypothesis that actionably interprets that leap.  Test the hypothesis via experiment - with "experiment" understood broadly to include such things as statistical data-sifting.  This sort of thing makes me happy.  :)

Returning to the particular endeavor under discussion, I wonder if it will ultimately dovetail with research into mutation clusters as per this article:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2582452/

Quote
Abstract

Positive selection for protein function can lead to multiple mutations within a small stretch of DNA, i.e., to a cluster of mutations. Recently, Wagner proposed a method to detect such mutation clusters. His method, however, did not take into account that residues with high solvent accessibility are inherently more variable than residues with low solvent accessibility. Here, we propose a new algorithm to detect clustered evolution. Our algorithm controls for different substitution probabilities at buried and exposed sites in the tertiary protein structure, and uses random permutations to calculate accurate P values for inferred clusters. We apply the algorithm to genomes of bacteria, fly, and mammals, and find several clusters of mutations in functionally important regions of proteins. Surprisingly, clustered evolution is a relatively rare phenomenon. Only between 2% and 10% of the genes we analyze contain a statistically significant mutation cluster. We also find that not controlling for solvent accessibility leads to an excess of clusters in terminal and solvent-exposed regions of proteins. Our algorithm provides a novel method to identify functionally relevant divergence between groups of species. Moreover, it could also be useful to detect artifacts in automatically assembled genomes.

"The Logic Elf rewards anyone who thinks logically."  (Jill)

The Magic Pudding

This isn't really on topic but anyway, there's a bat colony in town it's an amazing thing but I'm glad I don't live next to it.
This page describes it as 60,000 strong, I don't know if this accurate but there's a hell of a lot of them.
You see them as shown in the pic and you may think wow that's a lot of bats, but that's only part of the colony, they do a staged departure these bats will fly away and be replaced by others every few minutes.

They are flying foxes, a fruitbat.