Join Prof. Duncan Greig as he explores "How repeatable is evolution? Mapping the Adaptive Landscape of Yeast Mating".
Have you ever wondered: to what extent is evolution repeatable, and how often can we get the same result in the end? If we went back millions of years and let natural selection and evolution take place all over again, would the world still look exactly the same as it does today?
The adaptive landscape looks just like geographic maps showing altitudes of mountains and valleys. It is a visual representation in evolutionary genetics of how fitness relates to traits or genes where higher altitude represent better fitness. The selection of a gene over time is the process of moving it from plain lands to the peaks of mountains. The shape of the adaptive landscape determines the likely pathway of evolution, allowing us to better predict the likelihood of obtaining the same result after repeating evolution.
Don’t miss this fascinating look at evolution in action!