Baloo

Just thought it would be interesting to start a thread for people to toss in and discuss various predictions of evolutionary changes we might expect to see as nature continues to adapt to the modern man-made world.

For instance, I think the relatively simple behavior of "checking both ways before quickly crossing the street" might be of extraordinary benefit to any mammalian species that picks up on it (at least in highly-paved geographic regions, like N.A. and Europe)... It would give a tremendous survival advantage as the ability to cross streets safely would extend to increased ability to forage for food, roam for mates, out-maneuver predators, etc. Could we feasibly see such behavior become instinctual in, say, deer or armadillo populations? In the next 100 years?

Jobar

I've often wondered about that, Baloo. Living in a semi-rural part of Georgia as I do, I see huge numbers of road killed animals; over the course of my lifetime, I know that this part of the country has many fewer wild animals of all types, and I attribute this overwhelmingly to the automobile.

Some animals simply avoid all the works of man to the maximum amount possible; as we continue to spread across the surface of the world there are fewer and fewer niches where animals can hide from us. So learning to live with us would definitely constitute a survival advantage. I see squirrels in city environments that seem able to dodge cars already. Whether this is learned or instinctual I don't know.

One thing I am willing to predict- most of the human-caused changes we won't like. We already see antibiotic, pesticide and herbicide resistance spreading rapidly, and that after only a hundred-odd years; what will we have to do to keep ahead of the microbes, weeds and bugs in a thousand years?

The only thing that prevents me from predicting certain doom for our high-tech civilizations because of this, is our increasing facility with biotechnology. I feel that we will find methods of prevention and control which will work around the phenomenon of resistance; repellants and physical controls which do not kill off the vulnurable and leave only resistant populations. Why, we might even learn how to bioengineer a deer which always looks both ways!

PotatoError

Biotechnology will allow us to create organisms which destroy dangerous bacteria and viruses. Nanotechnology could go further and allow us to create machines that can hunt and destroy dangerous organisms.

That's until someone makes bad nanobots which eat us all

Screw evolution - one day we might be free of it.

strubenuff

At 8:00 pm eastern time on the discovery channel their doing a show on what evolution might bring about 2 million years from now. Personally, I imagine our manipulation of the gentic code in the far future will lead to the resurection of extinct species, faster and stronger growing plants (allowing us to generate an entire forest very quicly, for example), and new species for a space environement. Examples of this would be new bacterias and shrubs to grow on Mars. I also think it's possible we will manipulate ourselves, eventually (within 10,00 yrs or so) branching into a new species (an improved version of ourselves here on Earth, and ones more capable of living in space [Mars, Jupiter's moon, etc.]).

Darwin's Beagle

It is fun to speculate what evolution might bring about, but it is virtually certain that whatever we predict will turn out to be wrong.

For instance, it seems reasonable that evolution would select for mammals that look both ways before crossing the road. I've often heard it said that armadillos and opposums are born dead by the side of the road. So it seems reasonable that autos could be a major selective pressure.

However, evolution could respond in ways other than making the mammal more wary (in fact, I would rather think that natural predation would already have maxed out the wariness trait). Perhaps instead, evolution would select for more agile individuals. Perhaps it would select for individuals with smaller home territories that don't roam as much. Perhaps it would select for individuals capable of surviving in more extreme environments that would be less likely to encounter autos.

With so many options -- some of which are impossible to predict beforehand -- no matter how much fun it may be to speculate about the future course of evolution, it is also pretty much useless.

Regards,

DB

Bubba

Welcome to Infidels Darwin's Beagle!

Bubba

Doubting Didymus

Well what's the point of me saying anything when you've already gone and said what I wanted to. There should be laws against that.

Camaban

pre-emptive copyright?

IE, you've copyrighted all future thoughts, even if you haven't thought of them yet

Doubting Didymus

Such a good idea, that it must be mine. See you in court.