Species May Adapt Quickly To Environmental Change, Study Says

A new experiment using baker’s yeast suggest that organisms can adapt relatively rapidly to environmental changes. McGill University researchers exposed samples of baker’s yeast, whose genetic makeup has been well studied, to various levels of salt — an environmental stressor for yeast. What the researchers found is that the yeast was able to evolve to exist in saltier environments in 50 to 100 generations. The experiment, the results of which were published in the journal Science, showed that organisms were more likely to adapt and evolve if the exposure to environmental stress was slow. And the study showed that populations evolved more successfully if they were connected to other populations of yeast that had already been exposed to salt. Yeast populations had difficulty adapting to rapid increases of salt. The McGill scientists said their research suggests that species confronted with environmental disturbances, such as climate change or pollution, may be able to evolve if the changes are gradual and not extreme.