From the 2005 Holiday Lectures — Evolution: Constant Change and Common Threads

Stickleback Fossil Primer

A brief introduction to how stickleback fossils are collected and used to study evolution. It also shows the students who attended the 2005 Holiday Lectures taking part in a fossil-collecting activity.

9 minutes

Breeding Corn from Teosinte

Corn was originally bred from the teosinte plant by native Mexican farmers. The morphologies of modern-day corn and teosinte plants are compared to illustrate how artificial selection can bring about dramatic changes in plants.

52 seconds

Dog Breeding

The many forms of dogs that exist today were all created through selective breeding from the dog's ancestor, the wolf. In a span of less than 10,000 years, breeders have changed traits and body shapes of dogs by artificial selection-for example, emphasizing different aspects of hunting and herding behavior.

1 minute 52 seconds

Fruit Fly Courtship

Male courtship dances in two fruit fly species show that the wing spots play a prominent role.

55 seconds

Galapagos Creatures

These are some of the animal species Charles Darwin would have seen when he visited the Galapagos Islands.

24 seconds

Stickleback Environment

At the end of the ice age, the retreating ice sheet created many new lakes, some of which were colonized by sticklebacks. The presence of different predators in different lakes dictated the subsequent evolution of each isolated lake stickleback over the course of about 10,000 years. Some groups kept their spines to use against predatory fish, such as trout. Others lost their spines, perhaps to evade aquatic insect predators.

1 minute 26 seconds

Fossil Record of Stickleback Evolution

A quarry site in Nevada carries the evolutionary history of a population of stickleback fish that resided there when it was a freshwater lake. In a short time span in evolutionary terms—about 10,000 years—the fish population can be seen to dramatically reduce the size of their pelvic spines. This particular fossil record is remarkably complete with nearly year-by-year detail which includes documentation of intermediate forms.

1 minute 26 seconds

Stickleback Fish on Jeopardy!

The identity of the stickleback fish stumps the contestants on the game show.

2 minutes 2 seconds

Interview with Sean Carroll

An interview with Dr. Carroll.

4 minutes 55 seconds

Interview with David Kingsley

An interview with Dr. Kingsley.

4 minutes 41 seconds

Interview with Stephanie Nuñez

An interview with Stephanie Nuñez, an HHMI EXROP student in Dr. Kingsley's lab.

4 minutes 37 seconds

Interview with Chris Hittinger

An interview with Chris Hittinger, a scientist in Dr. Carroll's lab.

4 minutes 45 seconds