article_snippet: A study has claimed that the changes induced by evolution can be reversible, meaning certain animals can return to an earlier biological trait.
article_snippet: Professor Blair Hedges, director of the Centre for Biodiversity at Temple University in Philadelphia who was one of those leading the study said: 'This finding shows that speciation is more clock-like than people have thought. '
article_snippet: The traditional view of evolution has been as a tree that grows ever more complex branches over time .
article_snippet: The research has also helped to show that one of the most popular theories of what drives evolution may not be completely accurate.
article_snippet: Professor Hedges said: 'Taken together, this indicates that speciation and diversification are separate processes from adaptation, responding more to isolation and time. '
article_snippet: Adaptation is definitely occurring, so this does not disagree with Darwinism. '
article_snippet: But this goes against the popular idea that adaptation drives speciation, and against the related concept of punctuated equilibrium which associates adaptive change with speciation.'
highlights_snippet: This contradicts the traditional view of evolution as occurring in bursts .