Dr. Naomi Langmore, the lead author of a new study at the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University (ANU), stated that the discovery of co-evolution is a driving force behind biodiversity on Earth.
Researchers in Australia have found that co-evolution is a driving force behind biodiversity on Earth.
In a study published on May 31, researchers led by ANU uncovered rare evidence of co-evolution while analyzing the evolutionary relationships of cuckoos and the birds in which cuckoos lay their eggs.
Co-evolution is a driving force behind biodiversity on Earth. (Source: anu.edu.au).
Co-evolution is the process by which different species interact closely with each other, driving evolutionary changes that lead to the formation of new species – the evolutionary process of a new species.
This phenomenon has long been considered a plausible explanation for why there are so many species on Earth, but evidence supporting this theory has been quite rare.
Dr. Naomi Langmore mentioned that cuckoos are ideal subjects for studying co-evolution.
This species lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species, known as hosts. After hatching, cuckoo chicks develop faster than the host’s chicks. They often push the eggs or evict the host’s chicks from the nest. In response, hosts have learned to recognize and remove cuckoo eggs from their nests.
Dr. Langmore noted that only those cuckoos that most closely resemble the host’s chicks have a chance of not being detected, which over many generations has led cuckoos to evolve to mimic the host’s young.
The study shows that when a particular cuckoo species dominates over various hosts, they genetically diverge into multiple different species – each mimicking the young of its host.
Cuckoos that cause the most harm to their hosts are more likely to drive speciation, leading to an evolutionary arms race between the host’s defensive capabilities and the cuckoo’s adaptability.
Co-author Clare Holleley from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) emphasized that this discovery has significant implications in evolutionary biology, demonstrating that co-evolution among interacting species increases biodiversity by promoting speciation.
