"Groundbreaking Lizard Study Shakes Up Evolutionary Biology"
A long-term study conducted by James Stroud, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, challenges the paradox of stasis in evolutionary biology. Stroud studied four species of Anolis lizards over five consecutive time periods, measuring natural selection and survival rates. Contrary to the assumption of stabilizing selection, Stroud found that natural selection varied greatly over time, with different traits being favored in different years. However, when analyzed over the entire time period, the variation effectively canceled itself out, resulting in species remaining remarkably similar. This study provides new insight into how selection operates on a community level and highlights the ongoing process of evolution, even when species appear to remain the same.