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Rate of Evolution Metrics Observed

Posted by kdawson on from the it's-good-to-be-small-and-warm dept.

eldavojohn notes an article up at Science Daily on research demonstrating that smaller animals with warmer blood evolve faster than larger, colder animals. From the article: "Across species from fish to mammals, they found that rates of protein evolution showed the same body size and temperature dependence as metabolic rate. Specifically, their mathematical model predicts that a 10-degree increase in temperature across species leads to about a 300 percent increase in the evolutionary rate of proteins, while a tenfold decrease in body size leads to about a 200 percent increase in evolutionary rates."

4 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. fater metabolism means... by mr_mischief · · Score: 5, Insightful

    more cell division, shorter lifespan, and more more abundant reproduction. All of these mean mutations collect in the population faster. Bacteria evolve much faster than mice, BTW, and they're not warm-blooded since they have no blood. Yet, they reproduce at a much faster rate and the mutations add up faster.

    I didn't read TFA, but TFS tells us nothing common sense and a basic high-school understanding of biology couldn't predict as a hypothesis. That someone has gathered evidence to support the hypothesis empirically is pretty cool, though. Even what seems apparent should be tested, or it's not really science.

  2. Misleading by ucblockhead · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The rate of *evolution* is determined more by how much environmental pressure an animal is under. The more successful an animal is in a particular niche, the slower it will evolve. This is really talking about the mutation rate, and thus the rate of genetic drift. This says that the sort of random changes to proteins that don't effect the animal's phenotype will change faster in smaller animals.

    It *does* mean that smaller animals can evolve faster if under lots of evolutionary pressure. Note that since smaller animals tend to breed faster, this is already the case.

    --
    The cake is a pie
  3. Better term is drift... by highacnumber · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Using the term "evolutionary rate" is pretty misleading: whats happening is that the genomes are changing faster, but almost all of that change isn't from any selective pressure. Its mostly "neutral drift", things changing randomly in a way that does not impact the fitness of the organism.

    1. Re:Better term is drift... by toganet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Thank you -- I'd mod you insightful if I had points. My biggest pet peeve with the so-called debate around evolution is the notion that there is some sort of directionality to it. Popular media tends to reinforce this by using phrases like "more evolved."