Expert: John Shea - 3/2/2006

Question
Hello John,
I understand that Natural Selection is a process which results in those animals and plants that are best suited to their environment surviving and producing young, while those that are less well suited die. In this way new characteristics become selected and retained and so species evolve.
So would the following be an accurate example of this tenet?:Eg. Humans are believed to have evolved from an ape-like creature now extinct.
Do you know of a better example that actually can be verified?

thanks very much
Riccos  

Answer
Dear Riccos,
Because evolution works so slowly among larger animals, your best bet for finding examples of evolution at work are among smaller, more quickly-reproducing species.  The Galapagos Island finches are the classic example, -studied by Darwin and more recently be a variety of researchers.  Many have developed specialized beaks to accommodate variation in food supplies.  There is a good book on this published recently, although the name escapes me (Try googling "Galapagos finches evolution").  Another example is anti-biotic resistant malaria and other pathogens (e.g., HIV).  People treat these diseases with broad-spectrum antibiotics, don't follow through (ie. stop treatment when symptoms abate), and the surviving pathogens continue to reproduce, producing anti-biotic resistant strains among their descendants.
Cheers,
John Shea