Evolution might be less random than we thought. Evolution has long been thought of as a relatively random process, with species' features being formed by random mutations and environmental factors and thus largely unpredictable. But an international team of scientists headed by researchers from
discovered that a specific plant lineage independently developed three similar leaf types repeatedly in mountainous places scattered across the Neotropics.
The research team examined the genetics and morphology of the Viburnum plant lineage, a genus of flowering plants that started to spread into Central and South America from Mexico around 10 million years ago. Donoghue conducted research on this plant group for his Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard 40 years ago.
The team found that a very similar set of leaf types evolved in nine of the 11 regions studied. However, the full array of leaf types may have yet to evolve in places where Viburnum has only more recently migrated. For instance, the mountains of Bolivia lack the large hairy leaf types found in other wetter areas with little sunshine in the cloud forest in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
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