Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley say that a dramatic decrease in the evolution of new species is of as much concern as the threat of extinction among existing species.
Threat of extinction among existing species has got most biologists worried. However, researchers from University of California, Berkeley state that a dramatic decrease in the evolution of new species is of as much concern as the threat of extinction among existing species.
"Virtually no biologist thinks about the failure to originate as being a major factor in the long term causes of extinction," said Charles Marshall, director of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and professor of integrative biology in a press release. "But we found that a decrease in the origin of new species is just as important as increased extinction rate in driving mammals to extinction."
The findings of the study are more applicable to the slow changes that take place across millions of years than the rapid global changes taking place due to human activities. Authors of this study state that its findings could help biologists understand the pressures on today's flora and fauna and what drove evolution and extinction in the past.
The study was based upon the theory of a Lewis Carroll novel character the Red Queen, which stated "it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." In biological terms it means that species need to constantly adapt and evolve in order to survive, else they face the threat of extinction.
Researchers were not able to determine the cause of decrease in the origin of new species and the increase in extinction of existing species but were certain that it wasn't just "bad luck."
"Each group has either lost, or is losing, to an increasingly difficult environment," Marshall said. "These groups' demise was at least in part due to the loss to the Red Queen, that is, a failure to keep pace with a deteriorating environment."
Researchers of the study will present their findings in two talks on Saturday, June 22, at the Evolution 2013 meeting in Snowbird, Utah.
