The Undeniable Correlation Between Hybridization and Evolution The article “Shaking up the Tree of Life” by Elizabeth Pennisi, Pennisi discusses the abrupt interest in hybridization in the early 2010s. Pennisi starts the article with the discovery of the similarities between Neanderthal and humans. This confirmed the hypotheses that anthropologists and geologists had argued for decades — that our ancestors had mated with their cousins, which, in turn, originated hybrid offspring. These offspring then mated with present humans, which created us. With this important information, we can now determine the interbreeding of other living things around us. Most data back then had stated mammals that interbreed produce infertile children, but this
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Gilbert placed together multiple species of Costa Rican Heliconius, a type of tropical butterfly, into an insectary at the University of Texas in Austin. He noted that these different species had, in fact, interbred with each other based on the observations that he had noticed. This included the swapping of wing color and patterns and even the occasional creation of a completely new pattern. This led to the discovery that more than 30% of these Heliconius species had created hybrids. More recently, in 2012, with the help of cheaper types of DNA sequencing, researchers were able to track all of the interbreeding of species. With this, scientists were able to determine that the evolution of the finches had taken place over a million years. Genome analytical tools were put in place to decipher how much DNA had passed between humans and Neanderthals. This allows researchers to understand the gene flow between various species. This was important because it helped them connect the dots between different species. However, some biologists are still wary of the suggestion of unchecked gene swapping. This is because some people are trying to find hybridization in species that are not related. With that, only some people accept a species when there is complete genetic
Gilbert placed together multiple species of Costa Rican Heliconius, a type of tropical butterfly, into an insectary at the University of Texas in Austin. He noted that these different species had, in fact, interbred with each other based on the observations that he had noticed. This included the swapping of wing color and patterns and even the occasional creation of a completely new pattern. This led to the discovery that more than 30% of these Heliconius species had created hybrids. More recently, in 2012, with the help of cheaper types of DNA sequencing, researchers were able to track all of the interbreeding of species. With this, scientists were able to determine that the evolution of the finches had taken place over a million years. Genome analytical tools were put in place to decipher how much DNA had passed between humans and Neanderthals. This allows researchers to understand the gene flow between various species. This was important because it helped them connect the dots between different species. However, some biologists are still wary of the suggestion of unchecked gene swapping. This is because some people are trying to find hybridization in species that are not related. With that, only some people accept a species when there is complete genetic