More Denton: Reply to David (Introduction)

by romansh , Friday, August 14, 2015, 23:12 (3179 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw has mentioned that we have not seen new species.
I will let dhw explain what he means by this statement.
> I agree and I think Tony (BM) does also. We discover unknown species all the time. We see species disappear. The antibiotic resistant bacteria that have appeared and have been put forward as new species are an evolutionary adaptation but the bacteria are basically the same with a slightly different metabolism.
Ye bacteria do develop new capabilities like digesting nylon wastes that that have not existed until nylon was developed in the thirties.-> Lenski's E. coli haven't changed in 20 years of generations every 20 minute. Frankly we seem to be in a pause, and there have been papers on the subject wondering if humans would control future evolution.-What pressures for evolution was Lenski applying to the bacteria ... either way we still have a few billion years until the end of the experiment.