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Corals Adapt to Global Warming
Chuck1318 writes "Articles in Nature and New Scientist indicate that corals are more adaptable to global warming than previously thought. Large areas of coral reefs had been devastated by bleaching due to the loss of the coral animals' algae partner, which is sensitive to changes in water temperature. Some scientists had projected that coral reefs would all be gone in 20 to 30 years. Now it is found that a more heat-resistant strain of algae is able to colonize the bleached coral, returning them to life."
It is not a major climate change that spells disaster for life, but rather a rapid major climate change that spells disaster for life as we know it. The theory of evolution from Darwin relies on two important premises. First, that evolution occurs over a long period of time (long meaning spanning several generations. Second, that natural selection is not cumulative. This means that selection does not make for better phenotypic expression, but rather that the phenotypic expression being selected is better suited for the creature's environment at the current time. Thus, an extremely rapid change in environment can be devestating for complex creatures because there is not enough time for evolution by selection. The more drastic the climate change, the more likely that no suitable phenotype is available to be selected for, forcing the species into extinction.
It finds a way, but not always fast enough. It's fine and dandy that one species has adapted while the climate changes around us, but how many others couldn't adapt to us fast enough?
"Random accident" isn't a good description of how evolution works.
The game of mastermind is a good illustration of why. By random chance, it would take hundreds of moves on average to solve a game. But a good player can find the solution in 10 moves, or even less. That's because he's using a technique other than random chance. He relies on information from the previous moves to construct the next move.
The DNA in your cells did not form randomly with the formation of the specific organism called "you". The DNA in your cells formed in a manner informed by the DNA in all previous generations. That is not random.
No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men.-Ronald Reagan