The 'fuel of evolution' is more abundant than previously thought in wild animals

The Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research is part of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

Natural selection promotes genetic changes that favor survival and reproduction of individuals through Darwinian evolution. How fast evolution happens depends on the amount of fuel and genetic difference in the ability to survive and reproduce. The raw material for evolution is more abundant in wild animals than previously thought, thanks to new research by an international research team with participation of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. Science published the findings.

The process of evolution was only visible over geological ages. Many examples of evolution have been discovered in a few years. One example is that of British populations of the peppered moth, where the abundance of two color changed dramatically in only a few decades, as the result of evolution by natural selection favoring different morphs depending on the level of air pollution. It was not clear how fast animals with longer lifespans can adapt to environmental change.

A team of 40 researchers from 27 institutions studied how much of the fuel of evolution exists in wild populations of birds and mammals. The amount of genetic difference in the ability to survive and reproduce is two to four times higher than previously thought.

Previous studies underestimated the evolutionary potential of species because they did not fully account for individuals that never had any offspring. The development of new statistical methods and a thorough selection of the data used for the study were required. For many years, only wildlife populations were studied carefully, and they needed to know when each individual was born, when they had babies, and when they died. They combined 2.6 million hours of field data collection and genetic analyses from 19 populations of 15 species from around the world.

This has been a remarkable team effort that was doable because researchers from around the world were happy to share their data in a large collaboration. It also shows the value of long-term studies with detailed monitoring of animal life histories for helping us understand the process of evolution in the wild.

The spotted hyenas are found in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Scientists from IZW and Leibniz have been studying this population for more than two decades and have compiled a genetic database of more than 2,000 individuals. Superb fairy-wrens from Australia, song sparrows from Canada and red deer from Scotland were included.

If the new study revealed more fuel of evolution than anticipated, it also showed noticeable differences between species. It was found that spotted hyenas have the most fuel of the 15 species studied. Spotted hyenas are the most widespread large carnivore in Africa, and this came as a surprise to the team. They can adapt well to new environments, but we didn't expect them to be among the best-equipped of all species.

The team had to overcome an additional challenge besides collecting a huge amount of data and developing new methods. Changes in traits that influence individual survival and reproduction may be driven by social processes such as social learning in highly social species such as the spotted hyena. The method used to assess the amount of evolution's fuel can't cope with the details of every single population. The team had to find a way to check for possible biases. Dr. Courtiol and Dr. Liam Bailey used computer simulations to compare the amount of fuel of evolution for a virtual hyena population.

According to the researchers, their findings have implications for predictions. We can say that evolution is a much more significant driver of the population's ability to adapt to environmental changes.

More information: Timothée Bonnet, Genetic variance in fitness indicates rapid contemporary adaptive evolution in wild animals, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abk0853. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0853 Journal information: Science Provided by Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Citation: The 'fuel of evolution' is more abundant than previously thought in wild animals (2022, May 26) retrieved 26 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-fuel-evolution-abundant-previously-thought.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.