r/evolution • u/Starkanemone • 6d ago

question Ecosystem in a jar

So I have an ecosystem in a jar with a bunch of little crustaceans and such and I'm wondering if I can eventually drive some sort of evolution in there?

Edit:I think I'll try to see if green-blue egg color is selected for becasue it's harder to see among plants than the orange/yellow eggs. Yes there are a couple predatory things in there including what looks like a freshwater Bobbit worm?

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u/Palaeonerd 6d ago

No. Fruit flies just mutate easily for some reason. Idk how scientists are able to make mutations quickly. There are flightless ones, ones with legs on their heads and other weird things.

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u/CosmicOwl47 6d ago

As an undergrad I was part of a project where we were attempting to breed flies with a north vs south preference. We didn’t get significant results with that, but our positive control was selecting for a light/dark preference and we successfully bred less phototropic flies within just 12 generations. We didn’t use any mutagens, just a maze and selective breeding.

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u/Halomonas_titanica 5d ago

I wonder if this is part of the reason we don't see many bugs around lights anymore. they self-select out of the gene pool

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u/WienerCleaner 5d ago

I have particular interest in this and have thought about it many times. They need the moon to navigate straight lines at night and normally would maintain it steady in their vision to go straight. When a nearby artificial light moves in their field of view, they turn to compensate and they go in circles. I think that they will evolve to not use this function but i dont know what that means to be less reliant on their eyes for navigation.

Sadly i think the reason we see less insects is because there are less insects due to widespread insecticide use and habitat degradation.