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Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution

Your one-stop source for information on evolution

Understanding Evolution

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  • Evolution 101
    • An introduction to evolution: what is evolution and how does it work?
      • 1_historyoflife_menu_iconThe history of life: looking at the patterns – Change over time and shared ancestors
      • 2_mechanisms_menu_iconMechanisms: the processes of evolution – Selection, mutation, migration, and more
      • 3_microevo_menu_iconMicroevolution – Evolution within a population
      • 4_speciation_menu_iconSpeciation – How new species arise
      • 5_macroevo_menu_iconMacroevolution – Evolution above the species level
      • 6_bigissues_menu_iconThe big issues – Pacing, diversity, complexity, and trends
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Home → Ecological niches (text-only version)

    Ecological niches (text-only version)

    Throughout their evolution, arthropods have successfully invaded new ecological niches.

    • Cleaner shrimp run underwater “service stations”, where fish come to be cleaned of parasites and old scales by the attending shrimp.
    • Australian trapdoor spiders construct elaborate snares for unsuspecting insects. Their burrows are equipped with a disguised trapdoor and a starburst of twigs. The spider lies in wait, monitoring the vibrations in the twigs for signs of prey passing overhead, and then ambushes its victim.
    • Leafcutter ant colonies live on communal fungal farms: workers tend subterranean fungal gardens and then harvest and consume the fungus.
    • The parasitic crustacean, Cymothoa exigua, is a freeloader — it lives in a fish’s mouth, attached to the fish’s tongue and feasting on its blood. Hey, may be gross, but it’s a living!
    • A locust swarm will consume almost anything green (including fabric and plastic!) and can strip a field bare in minutes.

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