Dear BAE,
I appreciate your contribution for this topic (one of my favourite one). I would like to add something.
It is possible that thousand modifications in a genetic pool were not sufficient to observe the rise of a new species. One fact is sure. This takes long time and more, if the ecospace is not perturbed. Honestly, I don't know how much genes must be changed to obtain a conclusive discrepancy between two tendencies within a given population.
I guess it must be enormous and proportional to the complexity of the organism.
I study fishes. My fossil documentation is extensive but mostly reduced to ridiculously small organ of past fishes (teeth). My actual basis is 2,5 million year should probably be the average life-time for a species. I prefer not attempt to calculate the modified gene numbers during such period.
Denesha
[This message has been edited by Denesha, 03-18-2004]