2014_11_14_CIE_gregorio_sanchez

"Understanding how evolution works allows us to know our origin and biological nature and to appreciate the value of biodiversity as source of information about the history of life on Earth, which is also our own history". This was pointed out by Gregorio Sánchez, PhD student of the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra in the discussion paper "Evolution: What happens to our life?" given on the occasion of the celebration of Science Week in the academic center.

The researcher highlighted that, being evolution the mechanism that gives rise to biodiversity, "understanding it is fundamental to interpret how life originated and why it has come to diversify in the way it has. Thus, knowing the evolutionary history is core topic to develop more effective measures to ensure the conservation of species," he added.

He also explained how sometimes the evolution of a population can end in its own destruction if the environment in which it lives becomes hostile too quickly for it to adapt. "This has happened many times and that is why extinctions occur." Despite this, we still talk about "evolution" since, for example, without the extinction of the dinosaurs, the success of mammals, including humans, would have been impossible.