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Native Lizards Show Rapid Fire Evolution

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http://scitechdaily.com/rapid-fire-evolu...en-anoles/

EXCERPT: A newly published study from Harvard University found that in just 20 generations in 15 years green anoles evolved larger toe pads equipped with more sticky scales to allow for better climbing.

Though it’s often portrayed as a process that takes place over thousands of years, under the right circumstances the evolution of enhanced traits in a species can occur with surprising speed. Exhibit A involves green anoles.

The only anole species native to the United States, these small lizards are typically found on or near the base of trees, where they feed largely on insects. When brown anoles were introduced to this country in the 1950s, these highly invasive lizards quickly began to crowd out the native species, and drove green anoles off the forest floor to higher perches.

Forced to move toward the treetops, a Harvard study found, over just 20 generations in 15 years the green anoles evolved larger toe pads equipped with more sticky scales to allow for better climbing. The study is described in an October 24 paper in the journal Science.

“Over the past several decades, evolutionary biologists and ecologists have come to realize that if natural selection is strong enough, species will evolve, and they will evolve over a timeframe that we can observe,” said Yoel Stuart, a former graduate student in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and lead author of the paper...
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