Signs of evolution during recorded history?

[dave_c]

Yes, they've been fossils that record evolution in pre-history. But has there been signs that evolution of any species of animal occurring during recorded history?

I'm guessing the period of time for recorded history is way too miniscule for anything to happen.

[kitesurfer]

the majority of the users on this site are generally reffered to as 'fossils' so good place to ask

[fredpuli47]

Don't think so. There's the British moth which is found as a light -coloured form in the wild countryside but which was only found as a dark -coloured form in the smokey towns after the Industrial Revolution. The argument is that predators could see the light ones against the sooty walls, so only those which were dark survived to breed in the towns. In the country , the light ones were better camouflaged and so survived to breed.
Granted, that's not a new species, but is an example of evolutionary forces at work during recorded history.

[wildwood]

Normally evolution is indiscernible in one person's lifetime, but there has been some speedier recent evolutionary changes due to the pollution driven acceleration of Global warming.

[heathfield]

One of the objections against Darwin's evolution theory is that no-one has ever seen the development of a new species.

[brionon]

Yes,certain Moths have changed colour to mimic the trees they rest on. The trees getting darker through the smoke and grime of the enviroment.

[jno]

the way diseases mutate in response to the use of drugs? The antimalarials people took 20 years ago don't work much any more.

[martybabe]

see here:

http://www.nature.com/nature/newspdf/evolution gems.pdf

or

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation .html

Evolution can be suprisingly fast - the famous example is industrial melanism in the peppered moth, Biston betularia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evo lution

Although there is some doubt in some quarters as to the accuracy of the original experiments, more recent population genetics approaches show that evolution (manifest as a change in allele frequencies) has definately occured. However no speciation event occured.