If the Earth Is Young, How Are There So Many Species?

Speciation can occur within just a few generations.

Recent studies reveal that speciation does not require tens, thousands, or millions of years. Speciation can occur within just a few generations. An excellent example is Darwin’s finches, which are actually tanagers (they were misidentified, and the name stuck). These birds are often used as a flagship species for molecules-to-man evolution. However, a 2017 study documented a new species of tanager arising on the island of Daphne Major in the Galápagos Islands in just two generations.2 In 1981, a graduate student noticed a unique-looking bird had arrived on the island. It was larger, had a bigger beak, and sang a different song than the three species of Darwin’s finches known to inhabit the island. Researchers collected a blood sample and identified him as an Española cactus finch from the island of Española, over 60 miles (100 km) away. He may have blown over during a storm or been brought over on a boat, as the distance is too great for these small birds to fly on their own. Therefore, he was stuck on Daphne Major and began to breed with the medium ground finches native to the island. His resulting offspring had unique songs and beaks, both traits crucial to sexual selection in these birds. Because they differed from the native species, they were unable to attract them as mates. They began breeding with each other, creating what is now dubbed the Big Bird Lineage. Within just two generations, these birds had established a recognizable species that is ecologically competitive with the other native finches. Dozens of these “Big Birds” inhabit the island.

NH53, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Another example of rapid speciation discovered in recent years involves flounders in the Baltic Sea.3 Researchers from the University of Helsinki discovered that the European flounder split into two separate species in about 2,400 generations, making this the fastest speciation event of any marine vertebrate known. The study was prompted because the European flounder has two different spawning strategies. One group spawns in deep water basins, while another group spawns in shallow coastal waters. Although the fish all look similar, examinations of their inner ears revealed they are genetically distinct, and the second species was named the Baltic flounder. Further evaluations of their genetics revealed that the two species diverged very quickly from each other relatively recently, surprising scientists.

By Paolo Momigliano, Gaël P. J. Denys, Henri Jokinen and Juha Merilä - CC BY 4.0

Many other studies have been published documenting noticeable changes in organisms occurring in very short time frames. While trait changes are not necessary for speciation to occur, they are frequently associated with the early stages of speciation.

• Green anole lizards in Florida have undergone rapid behavioral and anatomical changes in response to invasive brown anoles.4 The brown anoles drove the green anoles higher into the trees. In response, the feet of recent generations of green anoles changed to accommodate their new lifestyles. Within 15 years, these green anoles had larger toe pads with more scales to help them better grip branches.
• Bedbugs, which were once nearly eradicated in the United States due to pesticides, have returned stronger than ever, resistant to these sprays.5 The pesticides initially used to kill bedbugs by attacking their nervous systems. However, a few bedbugs had mutations that were beneficial against these sprays. They had thicker exoskeletons, tougher nerve cells, and enzymes that destroyed the toxins. As the bedbugs without these mutations were killed off, the unique survivors had the chance to multiply and pass on their resistant mutations to the next generations. The bedbugs of today are now quite different than the bedbugs of the past and much tougher to eradicate.
• As a response to trophy hunting, the average horn size of bighorn sheep in the Canadian Rockies has decreased in just a few decades, as only males with smaller horns who are not being shot are living long enough to pass on their traits.6 Likewise, certain populations of African bush elephants in Mozambique are entirely tuskless as a result of relentless poaching during the Mozambican Civil War, a change that also occurred in just decades.7

Other kingdoms of life demonstrate rapid speciation as well.

• Genetic analysis reveals that the western sunflower species arose in less than 60 generations from hybridization between common sunflowers and prairie sunflowers.8
• Powdery mildew fungi, which are obligate parasites, fascinate scientists with their ability to rapidly change and adapt their designs and lifestyles, meaning they can now survive on over 10,000 species of plant hosts.9 They can quickly overcome plant immune defenses, fungicides, and host barriers, making them formidable pathogens.
• Speciation in marine environments was believed to be a slow process, but examination of the genetics of protist Fucus radicans, a brown algae species, surprised researchers when it revealed that it diverged as a species just 400 years ago.10
• One study placed E. coli bacteria and viruses in a closed flask to observe how they would fight each other, and within three weeks, the new generations already had genetically distinct adaptations.11

These examples and many more demonstrate that diversification and speciation do not require eons of time, and even secular scientists are recognizing that fact. “Researchers who once assumed evolution required millennia are documenting species adapting in mere decades, or even shorter time frames. Adaptation is happening right under our noses, in our lifetimes. Species are evolving at speeds that Darwin could not have imagined.”12

Rapid Speciation Is Consistent with a Biblical Worldview

While secular scientists are surprised, rapid speciation is consistent with a biblical worldview. When God created living organisms 6,000 years ago, he made them according to their kinds (Genesis 1:11–13, 20–25). Each kind began with a massive range of genetic potential. As they began multiplying and spreading throughout creation, different traits began manifesting in different populations. Once the first humans disobeyed God and creation was cursed (Genesis 3), mutations arose and designs were corrupted, causing even more changes.

Then, the global flood (Genesis 7–8) cut off the genetic lines of air-breathing, land-dwelling and flying animal kinds to just the representatives saved on the ark. However, since God brought the animals to Noah (Genesis 6:20), he likely chose representatives with extensive genetic potential to “restart” the speciation process. After they disembarked, they were commanded to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 8:17). Their vast genetic potential allowed their descendants to adapt to a variety of selection pressures.

Evidence of the diversity within kinds can now be found in the fossil record and seen among creation today. It is important to note that all the genetic changes occurring in living organisms happen within their kinds and within the genetic potential God placed into those kinds at the beginning of creation. None of the adaptations seen today turn one kind of organism into a new kind or spontaneously arise life from nonlife, a requirement for molecules-to-man evolution. Mutations can only act on information that is already present. While mutations can provide gains of functions, they cannot gain new kinds.

The testable, observable, and repeatable evidence demonstrates that changes in organisms can take place very quickly.

The argument that diversification and speciation in living organisms require long periods of time to achieve the amazing variety of species on earth is simply false. The testable, observable, and repeatable evidence demonstrates that changes in organisms can take place very quickly, sometimes within a few generations. A young earth and biblical history are consistent with the evidence seen today. “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).