Daniel Funk General Quotations

This helps fill a big gap that has existed in evolutionary studies. We have known for some time that when species invade a new environment or ecological niche, a common result is the formation of a great diversity of new species. However, we haven't really understood how or whether the process of adaptation generally drives this pattern of species diversification.

The fact that the association is statistically significant despite the crudeness of our estimates suggests that the true biological association is very strong. Darwin's famous book was called 'On the Origin of Species,' but it was really about natural selection on traits rather than species formation. Since our study suggests that natural selection is a general cause of species formation, it seems that Darwin chose an appropriate title after all.