New research suggests that one should not regard small changes in the beak size of Darwin’s finches as evidence for evolution. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Joel Kontinen
Evolutionists acknowledged recently that Darwinian evolution is slower than they had assumed. In August, Josef Uyeda, a zoologist at Oregon State University, and colleagues published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the long-term changes supposedly caused by evolution.
The researchers compared the changes incurred in 10-100 years with the assumed millions of years of the fossil record and concluded that “rapid changes in local populations often don't continue, stand the test of time or spread through a species”, as Physorg.com described it.
The result is interesting because school textbooks for instance have regarded slight changes in the beak size of Darwin’s finches as evidence for evolution.
Detailed studies indicate that the changes are temporary.
Long-beaked finches flourish during times of drought and short-beaked finches during the rainy season. There is no clear trend from one generation to the next, however.
In other words, evolutionists should not use small changes in beak size or shape as evidence for evolution because the changes are not cumulative. The finches remain finches although their beak size and shape might vary a little.
In reporting on the study, Physorg.com used an interesting analogy: ”Just because humans are two or three inches [5-7 cm] taller now than they were 200 years ago, it doesn't mean that process will continue and we'll be two or three feet [60-90 cm] taller in 2,000 years.”
It seems that there are limits to such growth, which incidentally might be due to better nourishment.
Source:
Not so fast -- researchers find that lasting evolutionary change takes about one million years.Physorg.com 22 August 2011.
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