Monarchs in captivity do not migrate (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, June 27, 2019, 13:13 (1775 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Despite not finding genetic changes, this suggests that there are epigenetic influences of some sort, and that normally living monarchs contain instructions they must follow.

dhw: I would suggest that this suggests that epigenetic influences were the original spur to the pattern of migration, and when the environment was changed, the monarch changed its responses accordingly. Once a system is successful, it is passed on and will survive until conditions change. Then the organism will either change to fit in with new conditions, or it will perish. The process is known as evolution.

DAVID: Have you forgotten that evolution requires speciation? This is simply adaptation.

Adaptation is not simple, but speciation is the great mystery of evolution which nobody has yet solved. My proposal is that the SAME mechanism responsible for adaptation is also responsible for innovation, and hence speciation. If cell communities are able to change their structures or behaviour in order to meet the requirements of new conditions, perhaps (it is a hypothesis) they are also able to exploit new conditions through innovation – but we cannot always draw a clear borderline between adaptation and innovation, as for instance with pre-whale legs that turn into flippers.