Call it unnatural selection: human activities are driving the evolution of other species in dramatic and often unexpected ways. In effect, we have turned the Earth into a vast and uncontrolled evolutionary laboratory.
That was the warning issued last week in Los Angeles, as biologists and conservationists gathered to consider the problem at an unprecedented international summit. There was no shortage of examples of species that seem to be evolving in response to human interference, but biologists are still struggling to determine exactly what is going on, and to advise on how best to protect our planet’s threatened evolutionary heritage.…
