LiveScience: Evolution Occurs Faster at the Equator May 2, 2006
Posted by exertia in Evolution, News.add a comment
LiveScience has this interesting hypothesis about why evolution occurs faster in warmer climes:
Warmer temperatures speed up metabolism by allowing chemical reactions to occur at a faster rate, but this increased efficiency comes at a price: it produces higher quantities of charged atoms or molecules called “free radicals,” which can damage proteins—including DNA. Higher metabolism also speeds up DNA replication, which is just another chemical reaction, and this can increase the number of copying mistakes that can occur.
Together, damage to DNA by free radicals and replication mistakes could result in mutations that, over time and through natural selection pressures, can form new species.
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