Evolution Revealed through Sand Grain Genetics

Scientists may have learned a little more about the process of evolution through tiny grains of "sand." They're using the minute fossils of microscopic aquatic creatures called planktonic foraminifera to learn a bit more about how life formed.

Planktonic foraminifera are often less than a millimeter in size. Possessing tiny shells, the fossils of these creatures resemble sand grains to the naked eye. The species have been around for hundreds of millions of years, which means that it holds a lot of information about our world's past.

Part of evolution is speciation, which is how new species come into existence. Over millions of years, species change and diverge, becoming distinct populations and, eventually distinct species. Yet the debate on the best way to understand how this process occurs has continued between researchers for years. Scientists have wondered whether the best way to study this process is by examining fossil records or using evidence from species that are alive today. Yet this new research seems to indicate that the two used in conjunction may be the best method.

The tiny fossils have been around for millions of years. This means that rocks containing groups of these species can be dated precisely, which allows the scientists to see evidence of how the species evolve over time.

"The controversial hypothesis we test is that the processes lead to a new species coming into existence provoke a short, sharp burst of rapid genetic change," said Thomas Ezard, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This is controversial because it is very difficult to detect these new species coming into existence accurately without the fossil data; it is more commonly determined from assumptions made from the study of species alive today using molecular evidence."

The findings are important for studying the process of evolution. In addition, the findings show that by using fossil and molecular evidence, researchers can more accurately predict what happened in the past when it comes to species formation.

The findings are published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.