May 15, 2014

Study uncovers new evidence on species evolution



A study involving Simon Fraser University researchers and published today in the journal Science has found evidence for the genomic basis of how new species evolve in adapting to different environments.

Researchers studying an insect known as the walking stick (genus Timema) determined that the process of “speciation” happened in association with the use of different host plants. They also determined that across many populations of the insect, those on one host plant are diverging, genetically, from the populations on another host plant, a process they call “parallel speciation.”