Scientists have revealed the traits needed to dominate life
Darwinism shows that species which adopt particular positive traits or characteristics tend to thrive and kill off weaker opposition.
Now the absolute basic requirements to dominate your species area on earth have been isolated after a prolonged study.
And the results are surprising as eyes, complex organs and even a head is not an absolute requirement!
In the new study, Tereza Jezkova and John Wiens, both in the University of Arizona's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, examined 18 known biological traits, including traits related to anatomy, reproduction, and ecology and narrowed them down to three.
Darwinism shows that species thrive when they adopt positive traits and characteristics
And they concluded what an organism – human or otherwise – really needs for success in the world of natural selection are:
* Possessing a skeleton (either internal or external)
* Live on land rather than the ocean
* Being a parasite – or having the ability to parasitise other organisms
Eyes, complex organs and even a head are not absolute requirements
Their study published in the journal American Naturalist claimed that more obvious evolutionary traits such as having a head, limbs, and complex organ systems for circulation were not necessary for the survival of the fittest.
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Mr Wiens said: "We wanted to know what explains the pattern of diversity in the species we see today – who are the winners, and who are the losers?"
The researchers used a statistical method called multiple regression analysis to examine whether a trait such as parasitic lifestyle is a likely driver of species diversification.
Success in natural selection comes down to having a skeleton, living on land and being a parasite
Mr Wiens said: "We tested all these unique traits individually. For example, having a head, having eyes, where the species in a phylum tend to live, whether they reproduce sexually or asexually, whether they undergo metamorphosis or not; and from that we picked six traits that each had a strong effect on their own.
“We then fed those six traits into a multiple regression model. And then we asked, 'what combination of traits explains the most variation without including any unnecessary variables?' And from that we could reduce it down to three key variables."