Question

Evolution at its base is about change. Change over time spans that humans can't even wrap their heads around. Just like a river can carve the Grand Canyon over millions of years.....so too can Natural Selection "Carve" new species over similar time spans. Humans are a unique species, in that we are able to effect large areas of Earth by our activities. In some ways, we can 'supercharge' the speed at which evolution takes place, as many of the things we do to the environment would not be possible naturally. What are some ways that humans might be affecting the evolution of different species? Think about which species might THRIVE around humans....and how they may evolve in response, and think about which species humans could harm. How would the species change over time to cope? Are some species even ABLE to cope?

Answer 1

The human activity is for sure affecting the other species, and it is also affecting their evolution. The reason for that is that the humans create environments that are not possible naturally, destroy the natural ones, pollute, and kill.

Some animals can actually benefit from the newly created human environments, but all of those animals are relatively small and very opportunistic in their diets. Prime examples are the rats, raccoons, coyotes, which thrive in the human built areas.

But most species are not able to cope with that, as most of the species are tightly connected to their environment, so slight changes in it means that they are goners, which is why lot of species have gone extinct, and a lot more are on the verge of extinction.

Maybe in order to survive, some species will become smaller and much more opportunistic in their diets, thus being able to live alongside the humans in the human created environments.