The deadly event set the stage for a long-term evolutionary experiment. In 1992, Kerstin Johannesson, a marine ecologist from the University of Gothenburg, re-introduced 700 snails to a skerry whose snail population had been eliminated.
But Johanesson didn't just replace the lost population with the same snails. Instead, she transplanted snails with a different 'ecotype', shaped by a different habitat, to see if they would evolve the traits of the original skerry inhabitants over time.
Sure enough, over the course of several dozen generations, the new colonists evolved down a strikingly similar pathway to their predecessors, shaped by the same habitat. The researchers accurately predicted changes in the snails' appearance and genetics, providing a fascinating example of evolution in action.
Theory of evolution is fascinating.
I used to love reading Dawkins books. Got turned off at some point when i realized the way he fights religious zealots is by acting as an atheist zealot himself.
But separating the man from his work, he's still one of the best to really understand what evolution theory is all about. And what it's not about.