Yes to some extent. I'm going to take this in a more general sense - not just self selection but also other mechanisms that don't fit into the model of natural selection.
First, there is some evidence that, though you can't change your DNA, you can switch certain genes on and off depending on the way you exercise and the food you eat - and this change can be passed on to your offspring. See Lamarckism - current views
Then - the metabolizing part of the cells, the Mitochondrion - these are like companion separate organisms within your cells which have their own gene sequences. So they pass on an entirely different line of evolution - which continues its evolution through your lifetime as well.
Then, you have the symbionts, microbes that are essential for an animal or plant to survive - and they have their own strands of evolution also.
Simple example, orchids, not able to live without companion microbes. Many nitrogen fixing plants need microbes in their roots. Humans and animals need many symbiotic species to survive.
That's a bit like the idea of companion plants in gardening - certain plants grow well together because each supplies the nutrients the other is lacking - or - one of them keeps away insect predators that would damage the other one and so on. So two species that tend to grow together may work better than a single species on its own.
One of the best known, lichens - collaboration of a fungus with an algae. Lichen
In case of microbes - then you get microbial mats - complex associations of many different microbes working together.
You also have horizontal gene transfer, which is done through gene transfer agents - which can cut out pieces of DNA from one organism - and transfer it - even to an unrelated species.
Gene transfer agent
This is a mechanism of various microbes - and it is for instance, main reason for spread of anti-biotic resistance.
Horizontal gene transfer
But it's not just confined to microbes. Genes can be transferred between higher animals and plants for instance, genes have been transferred from fungi to aphids
Lateral Transfer of Genes from Fungi Underlies Carotenoid Production in Aphids
More examples here: Horizontal gene transfer
In the archaea it can happen surprisingly rapidly.
In one experiment, researchers added GTAs able to confer antibiotic resistance into a sample of ordinary sea water and left it overnight. By the next day 47% of the culturable microbes in the sea water had taken up this antibiotic resistance capabilities from the GTAs.
Bear in mind, these are unrelated species of microbes - just whatever happened to be in the sea water.
Then finally, there's a tendency to over emphasize how individuals and individual species evolve.
Instead - entire ecosystems of species evolve together. An amazonian tree frog would have nowhere to live if it weren't for the bromeliads and they would have nowhere to live without the tree, and the trees need the forest.
So - it is a simplification to try to consider a single species on its own and see how it adapts - as if its surroundings were unchanged and it had to evolve new capabilities to fit its surroundings.
Instead - all the species around are evolving as well. And there are complex interactions with groups of species that depend on each other - and evolve as a group - sometimes adapting to be more compatible, sometimes adapting to fit niches left by other species, or competing with other species or groups of species - or acting to resist invasion of their habitats by other species etc etc.
And that whole ecosystem may have a margin with another ecosystem with a different group of species. E.g. grassland competing with forests - and elephants eating the trees, and species (including trees) in the elephant dung etc etc.
So over time that may lead to a spread of grassland - or a spread of forest, depending on the dynamics of all the creatures involved - and as they evolve - that might lead to a different mix of grassland and forest - and lead to habitats that favour different species of trees, even marshland - or dry areas - and can change the climate also.
Similarly - different types of forest may spread - the Amazon is a huge patchwork of many different species interacting with each other for instance, and if a tree spreads to another part of the forest, then that's because it's found a niche where it is compatible with the other species living there. It's not just due to the genes in the tree itself - and its ability to cope with its surroundings - but its compatibility with many other species it finds.
So - the evolution at the species level, of natural selection, is only one part of a much wider picture involving symbionts, co-evolution of groups of species and competition of one group of species with another, its place in the ecosystem it is part of, the separate evolutionary lines of mitochondria in eucharyotes, changes in gene expression depending on how an individual exercises and eats, and horizontal gene transfer amongst other things.
It's not at all the simple picture of a species adapting to best fit an unchanging environment it finds itself in, and competing to do that better than any other species it finds there, which you might think when you first hear about the idea.
First, there is some evidence that, though you can't change your DNA, you can switch certain genes on and off depending on the way you exercise and the food you eat - and this change can be passed on to your offspring. See Lamarckism - current views
Then - the metabolizing part of the cells, the Mitochondrion - these are like companion separate organisms within your cells which have their own gene sequences. So they pass on an entirely different line of evolution - which continues its evolution through your lifetime as well.
Then, you have the symbionts, microbes that are essential for an animal or plant to survive - and they have their own strands of evolution also.
Simple example, orchids, not able to live without companion microbes. Many nitrogen fixing plants need microbes in their roots. Humans and animals need many symbiotic species to survive.
That's a bit like the idea of companion plants in gardening - certain plants grow well together because each supplies the nutrients the other is lacking - or - one of them keeps away insect predators that would damage the other one and so on. So two species that tend to grow together may work better than a single species on its own.
One of the best known, lichens - collaboration of a fungus with an algae. Lichen
In case of microbes - then you get microbial mats - complex associations of many different microbes working together.
You also have horizontal gene transfer, which is done through gene transfer agents - which can cut out pieces of DNA from one organism - and transfer it - even to an unrelated species.
Gene transfer agent
This is a mechanism of various microbes - and it is for instance, main reason for spread of anti-biotic resistance.
Horizontal gene transfer
But it's not just confined to microbes. Genes can be transferred between higher animals and plants for instance, genes have been transferred from fungi to aphids
Lateral Transfer of Genes from Fungi Underlies Carotenoid Production in Aphids
More examples here: Horizontal gene transfer
In the archaea it can happen surprisingly rapidly.
In one experiment, researchers added GTAs able to confer antibiotic resistance into a sample of ordinary sea water and left it overnight. By the next day 47% of the culturable microbes in the sea water had taken up this antibiotic resistance capabilities from the GTAs.
Bear in mind, these are unrelated species of microbes - just whatever happened to be in the sea water.
Then finally, there's a tendency to over emphasize how individuals and individual species evolve.
Instead - entire ecosystems of species evolve together. An amazonian tree frog would have nowhere to live if it weren't for the bromeliads and they would have nowhere to live without the tree, and the trees need the forest.
So - it is a simplification to try to consider a single species on its own and see how it adapts - as if its surroundings were unchanged and it had to evolve new capabilities to fit its surroundings.
Instead - all the species around are evolving as well. And there are complex interactions with groups of species that depend on each other - and evolve as a group - sometimes adapting to be more compatible, sometimes adapting to fit niches left by other species, or competing with other species or groups of species - or acting to resist invasion of their habitats by other species etc etc.
And that whole ecosystem may have a margin with another ecosystem with a different group of species. E.g. grassland competing with forests - and elephants eating the trees, and species (including trees) in the elephant dung etc etc.
So over time that may lead to a spread of grassland - or a spread of forest, depending on the dynamics of all the creatures involved - and as they evolve - that might lead to a different mix of grassland and forest - and lead to habitats that favour different species of trees, even marshland - or dry areas - and can change the climate also.
Similarly - different types of forest may spread - the Amazon is a huge patchwork of many different species interacting with each other for instance, and if a tree spreads to another part of the forest, then that's because it's found a niche where it is compatible with the other species living there. It's not just due to the genes in the tree itself - and its ability to cope with its surroundings - but its compatibility with many other species it finds.
So - the evolution at the species level, of natural selection, is only one part of a much wider picture involving symbionts, co-evolution of groups of species and competition of one group of species with another, its place in the ecosystem it is part of, the separate evolutionary lines of mitochondria in eucharyotes, changes in gene expression depending on how an individual exercises and eats, and horizontal gene transfer amongst other things.
It's not at all the simple picture of a species adapting to best fit an unchanging environment it finds itself in, and competing to do that better than any other species it finds there, which you might think when you first hear about the idea.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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