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Comet Orchid,moth Darwins 150 yr old prediction finally comes true
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However the predictive power of science never will be.
6 months in a mosquito filled tropics without a decent shower or a bed, just to record some gerbil's nightly mating rituals. I admit it, I'm way too soft and pampered to be able to endure such things.
Specifically, the interesting point to be made is that Darwin didn't simply predict that the length of the insect tongues would MATCH the orchid tubes, but rather that the orchids would be selected for longer tubes each generation (because the insects, now with slightly shorter tubes, would be forced to press up against the flower to get the nectar and thus would receive pollen all over their bodies that would then be spread by the insects), and the insects would be selected for longer tongues in order to reach across the ever-increasing distance.
It's somewhat of an arms race, in that the orchids benefit by the insects having to struggle to reach the nectar, and the insects benefit by having longer proboscises to not have to struggle to reach the nectar, leading to the development of very long tubes and tongues.
edit: no wait I've figured it out. Makes sense now. Sorry I doubted you.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Food for thought from PZ Myers, with a healthy dose of criticism and contextual information.
Specifically, the interesting point to be made is that Darwin didn't simply predict that the length of the insect tongues would MATCH the orchid tubes, but rather that the orchids would be selected for longer tubes each generation (because the insects, now with slightly shorter tubes, would be forced to press up against the flower to get the nectar and thus would receive pollen all over their bodies that would then be spread by the insects), and the insects would be selected for longer tongues in order to reach across the ever-increasing distance.
It's somewhat of an arms race, in that the orchids benefit by the insects having to struggle to reach the nectar, and the insects benefit by having longer proboscises to not have to struggle to reach the nectar, leading to the development of very long tubes and tongues.
This arms race is termed the Red Queen effect after the race the eponymous character in Through the Looking Glass holds in which "it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place." God, I love evolutionary science/scientists (you see what I did there, with the God and the evolution? funny stuff, huh?)
Heh, anyone else remember Christopher Plummer's character in the film, "Adaptation," talking about this discovery in the film?
No, I don't remember Christopher Plummer having a character in Adaptation.
Also, it seemed a bit put on that the scientist had to sit around in the jungle getting mosquito bites all night long rather than just pressing record, or at least putting up a mosquito net.