Originally posted by TheFallibleFiend:
Dear Blacknad. These are EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE conditions conducive to evolution. Evolution occurs best where food is scarce and predatation is fierce.
Dear TFF (as we appear to be on such cosy terms). I understand very well how this works in nature and if you are lumping me in with creationists then you don't have to - I am not one.
Are you saying that scarcity of resources and predation is the cause of mutation? Because I was talking about mutation and not selection. All I was saying was that with all of the unbroken lines of fruit flies bred in labs you would maybe expect to see some change. It would not have to be advantageous to survive - it only has to be non-fatal. I just thought that genetic changes were more likely to survive in labs where there is no predator or natural means of ending that strain.
It seems more ideal. How many mutations in the big bad world never saw the light of day because the carrier became food?
Blacknad.
