Fiji bees tell a new version of the evolutionary story Diversity stems from the inability to adapt to habitat environments

A Fijian bee Image source: Physicists Organization Network

Evolutionary biology believes that new species emerged and evolved to adapt to different ecosystems, but the rare bees discovered by Australian scientists in Fiji's alpine regions tell another version of the evolutionary story. According to the Physicists Organization Network recently reported, these bees provide evidence that they have evolved into many species before they have time to adapt to different habitats.

James Dawry of Flinders University, lead author of the article, said: "Scientists generally believe that adaptation to new habitats and ecosystems will promote and promote species diversity, but we found that the colonization of single bee species in Fiji eventually evolved more than 20 endemic bee species. At least for Fijian honey bees, species diversity is due to the inability to adapt well to habitats. ”

Study author Mike Schwartz, an associate professor at Flinders University, added: "If Darwin had studied the Fijian bees rather than the finches of the Galapagos, he might have drawn different conclusions about the origin of the species. ”

The researchers explain that the "ancestors" of the Fiji honey bees initially settled in the lowlands when the climate was cold, but as the climate warmed, the lowlands became too hot to allow the bees to live comfortably, so the bees parted ways and moved to different hillsides to settle down, and these "separate" bee populations later evolved into new species, and new species may be produced in each subsequent climate cycle.

The researchers said that of the 22 Fijian bee species they identified, most of which are temperature-limited and live at extremely limited altitudes, 14 of which come from different mountaintops.

"This illustrates how slowly bees have adapted to the new climate since colonizing Fiji, and this phylogenetic signal may indicate that bees are at risk of climate-related extinction," Dauri noted. Indeed, since the 'appearance' of the 1970s, a species of Fijian bee has become increasingly rare, and attention has begun to be paid to 13 species from other peaks. If the climate continues to warm, these bees may have nowhere to go, so curbing global greenhouse gas emissions is good for the conservation of species diversity. (Reporter Liu Xia)