These species cover a wide range of ecologies, life histories and social systems, and inhabit diverse terrestrial habitats.

The superb fairy-wrens of Australia, spotted hyenas of Tanzania, song sparrows of Canada and red deer of Scotland were among the animals tracked in this research. All populations had been monitored over long-term periods, from 11 to 63 years, providing natural selection data of over 249,430 individuals. This is the first study to look at the speed of evolution on a large scale including 19 populations of wild animals from around the world. Due to pollution, the dark morphs became more common in order to remain camouflaged. “Because moth colour determined survival probability and was due to genetic differences, the populations in England quickly became dominated by black moths.” The evolution of the peppered moth ( Biston betularia) is a classic example of Darwin’s natural selection, where before the Industrial Revolution, most morphs were white. With pollution leaving black soot on trees and buildings, black moths had a survival advantage because it was harder for birds to spot them,” continues Bonnet. “A common example of fast evolution is the peppered moth, which prior to the industrial revolution in the UK was predominantly white. “Since Darwin, researchers have identified many examples of Darwinian evolution occurring in just a few years,” says project lead Dr Timothée Bonnet from the Australian National University (Australia). An international team of 40 researchers from 27 scientific institutions have found that the “fuel for evolution” seems to be more abundant than previously thought – and natural selection is happening at a rate two to four times faster. While this has traditionally been viewed as a relatively slow process (taking at least several generations to effect change), it appears we have likely underestimated the rates of genetic inheritance. Darwin’s theory of evolution describes “natural selection” as the successful adaptation of a species as a result of genetic changes inherited over time.

Darwin natural selection