Biodiversity may have evolved specifically in response to predation

A study published in NatureA very interesting experimental report, by the Department of Biology at the University of Montana.

The researchers chose a single-celled organism, A small green algae was invited Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiWHO Lives in aquatic environment. It is about 10 microns in size, has two tiny flagella and feeds on its environment. This algae is widely used to produce biofuels, soon hydrogen and pharmaceuticals.

They know that this single-celled organism had no multicellular ancestors, and since 2007 they have been familiar with its DNA, which contains 15,000 genes.

Then they chose A very large predatorParamecium tetraralia, which feeds on these tiny algae of 0.1 mm and lives in water.

They also brought together hunting algae. They were able to show itAfter 50 weeks, 750 generations of these unicellular organisms, microalgae, become multicellular organisms that can no longer be eaten by predators..

A natural evolution thus takes place in a short year. The predation mechanism is therefore a mechanism leading to the emergence of biodiversity, at least as far as algae are concerned.