highwaystar101 said:
Slimebeast, you know that a study into the genes passed form generation to generation to support live birth in this specific lizard can't be done yet, that's the only reason you're asking for. It's dirty debating. Even if I did prove the genetic change in this particular species you would find something else that's a little more out of range. We are discussing a particular case, but a particular case which fits into a well documented and understood model. For what it's worth you might as well ask me to go to Jupiter and drop a weight into it and measure the acceleration, so that we can prove that Jupiter obeys gravity like Earth does. We know the model works, we've defined it to the level that every case can use will fit into it. Yes we test the theory frequently, but we can say with a high degree of certainty what the acceleration of an object will be when dropping it towards another planet with a high degree of certainty because the model exists to work it out and it has stood up to rigorous testing. This is just like that. Unfortunately the future isn't here and I can't yet prove to you that the genes in this specific lizard have changed to a statistically significant level, I'll be happy to do so if you can remind me in a few decades. But in the meantime I know genetic traits are passed on in every species, and I know that only the fit survive to do so. From this I can say with a high degree of certainty that continuing environmental pressures in these lizards will eventually lead to an evolution, like our case with gravity. We've observed the evolution of vivparity in lizards many times. "The evolution of viviparity has been well documented and observed many times. Squamate reptiles provide an excellent model system for studies on the evolution of viviparity because live-bearing reproduction has evolved in the Squamata at least 100 times (Blackburn, 1999), and complex placentae have evolved four or five times (Thompson and Speake, 2006). Many of the reptilian origins of viviparity have occurred at low taxonomic levels and in geologically recent times, potentially allowing a reconstruction of the transition to viviparity." (source) This case follows the same model as many cases that have been previously shown. I can't prove this case, but I can see that it has many of the hallmarks of hundreds of extremely similar cases where evolution has occurred. To say that it's not evolution if I can't show you genetic evidence yet is just plain wrong. |
If I may, I think what's happening here is that Slimebeast simply hasn't saw enough evidence that, on this case, there's any difference at all between these lizards. They might just be reacting, through the same mechanism, to their different habitats.
Now, I think a simple experiment of taking a group from the south to the north and another from the north to the south could settle that well enough. That or sequencing their genomes :P
