A recent study has found that hurricane-driven evolution has caused a dramatic shift in the composition of a particular species of insect. In the wake of the storm, species that thrive in the open space of the hurricane’s aftermath have rapidly taken over the insect population. This has resulted in a spatial-dominance bug evolution, an occurrence that is likely to continue for years to come.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of California Berkeley, focused on the Caribbean beetle species Geotrupes portentosus. After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, the researchers took samples of the beetle’s population before and after the storm. They found that the beetle’s population had shifted from being dominated by the species that had adapted to life in the forest to being dominated by those that had adapted to the open spaces created by the hurricane.

This is an interesting find, as it suggests that the environment can drastically shape the evolution of species in a short amount of time. As hurricanes become more frequent and severe in the future, we can expect to see many more cases of spatial-dominated bug evolution.

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source: Phys.org