Predictable Evolution: Different Insects, Same Adaptations

Predictable Evolution: Different Insects, Same Adaptations

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The famous biologist Stephen J. Gould once asked: If we rerun the tape of life, would the outcome of evolution be the same? For years, scientists have questioned whether evolution is predictable, or whether chance events make such predictability unlikely.

A study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that in the case of insects that developed resistance to a powerful plant toxin, the same adaptations have occurred independently, in separate species in different places and times.