Chris Darimont in "The Atlantic" on human-induced evolution in salmon populations
Chris Darimont, UVic Geography faculty member and Raincoast Research Chair in Applied Conservation Science, recently spoke to The Atlantic about human impact on salmon, citing selective killing as an example. He discusses how human activity has been impacting the adaptations of various species in a phenomenon scientists call "human-induced evolution," an idea originally coined by marine ecologist Stephen R. Palumbi almost 20 years ago. Darimont points to the simple mechanism he calls “selective killing,” whereby the human tendency to keep larger salmon and letting smaller fish escape the net has provided smaller salmon a survival advantage that has decreased the overall size of the species over time.
Read the full piece here.