Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Aug 25, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A recent study published in “Biology Letters” argues that perhaps Charles Darwin’s famous theory of evolution had some faults in it. A study conducted by University of Bristol PhD student Sarda Sahney and colleagues have held that it is the availability of “living space” rather than competition that lies at the root of evolution. The researchers studied fossils of land animals to decipher the pattern of evolution over 400 million years of history and have found that it is the “ecological niche concept” that had been the governing factor in the evolution of species.

The group of Bristol University researchers have in particular studied the land animals such as amphibians, mammals, reptiles, and birds and found that the amount of biodiversity was directly proportional to the availability of “living space”. It has suggested that the evolution of an organism depends on the “ecological niche” which includes availability of food and favorable habitat. The study proposes that big evolutionary changes occur when animals move to empty living space that is not occupied by any other animal. A co-author of the study, Professor Mike Benton explained to media sources that “competition did not play a big role in the overall pattern of evolution”. He sighted the example of mammals that have co-inhabited with the dinosaurs for 60 million years, but they flourished only after the latter went extinct. He maintained that mammals at that time took the opportunity and filled in the space and now it is the mammals that dominate the land.

However, the study has failed to convince many biologists who hold that it is the drive to avoid competition that species move to new spaces. An evolutionary biologist at Yale University, Stephen Stearns said to media sources that he has found the study’s pattern “interesting, but the interpretation problematic”.