Since publication of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin 150 years ago, it has been known that one of the dynamics of evolution is natural selection.. Its results depend on environmental conditions and interactions between the species present. For the first time scientists are able to demonstrate that the coevolutionary process is dependent on ecological conditions.
Observing the mechanisms of evolution in order to understand how a species adapts to another under different ecological conditions was the goal of researchers at the Laboratoire Écologie et Évolution at CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie and the École Normale Supérieure. They studied two bacteria — a predator and a prey — over 300 generations in a controlled environment.