TRENDING SCIENCE: Wild animals evolving much faster than we ever thought

Climate change and man-made activities haven’t been kind to the animal kingdom. The alarms have been going off for years. Since 1970, mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish populations have dropped by 68 %.

However, the news may not be all that bad. According to a new study published in the journal ‘Science’, wildlife’s ability to adapt may be greater than previously believed.Evolution can occur faster when species have more genetic differences. That’s because particular traits die off and stronger ones get established. The authors call this the “fuel of evolution”, which may exist in wild animal populations up to four times the rate believed until now. The “fuel” could help species’ odds of survival.

An international team of 40 researchers from 27 scientific institutions led by the Australian National University (ANU) analysed previous genetic and other biological data from 19 populations of wild animals around the world. They had a lot of data to work with, about 2.6 million hours’ worth on each animal. Findings showed that most of the populations were able to adapt quickly.

Turns out Darwinian evolution was a very slow process. “However, since Darwin, researchers have identified many examples of Darwinian evolution occurring in just a few years,” lead author Timothée Bonnet, an evolutionary ecologist at ANU, explained in a news release by the United Kingdom’s University of Exeter. “A common example of fast evolution is the peppered moth, which prior to the industrial revolution in the UK was predominantly white. With pollution leaving black soot on trees and buildings, black moths had a survival advantage because it was harder for birds to spot them. Because moth colour determined survival probability and was due to genetic differences, the populations in England quickly became dominated by black moths.”Could species also adapt to changes in the environment? “This research has shown us that evolution cannot be discounted as a process which allows species to persist in response to environmental change,” Dr Bonnet continued.

But at the speed climate change is increasing, who’s to say that these populations will be able to keep pace? “But what we can say is that evolution is a much more significant driver than we previously thought in the adaptability of populations to current environmental changes,” he added.

“Our work alone is insufficient to draw predictions. However, it shows that evolution cannot be discounted if we want to accurately predict the near future of animal populations,” Dr Bonnet wrote in ‘The Conversation’. “Despite the practical challenges, we are thrilled to witness Darwinian evolution, a process once thought exceedingly slow, acting observably in our lifetimes.”

We’ll need to know more about how quickly animals can adapt, given the relentless pace of climate change and its destruction of Earth’s biodiversity. If we continue to carelessly mismanage the planet’s resources, such research won’t matter in the end.