links for 2009-10-11

Evolution Diary

* front page
* archives
* about
* Videos
* Downloads
* Evo in Action
* More News
* RSS

Evolution Diary header image 2
← How fish species suffer as a result of warmer waters Evolution evidence shows nurses are innocent in Libya Aids outbreak case →
Human poaching drives rise in tusk-free genes of elephants
January 5th, 2007 · 1 Comment

More male Asian elephants will be born without tusks because poaching of tusked elephants is reducing the gene pool, Chinese researchers say.

Their study, conducted in the southwest province of Yunnan where two-thirds of China’s Asian elephants live, found the tuskless phenomenon is spreading, according to a report in the China Daily.

The tusk-free gene, which is found in between 2 and 5% percent of male Asian elephants, has increased to between 5 and 10% in elephants in China, says zoology researcher Associate Professor Zhang Li, from Beijing Normal University.

The E. coli long-term evolution experiment (LTEE) is an ongoing study in experimental evolution led by Richard Lenski that has been tracking genetic changes in 12 initially nearly identical populations of asexual Escherichia coli bacteria since February 24, 1988.