What is an example of rapid evolution?

Answer 1

One possible example of rapid adaptation to a changing environment is the Italian wall lizard - Podarcis sicula. In 1971, ten adult P. sicula specimens from the island of Kopište were transported 3.5 km east to the island of Mrčara, where they founded a new bottlenecked population. When scientists returned to assay the populations on this island decades later, they found that descendants of this founding population had changed significantly in behaviour and morphology: they had shifted from being primarily insectivore to being primarily herbivore, and had developed territorial behaviour and changes to their digestive systems to match.

Answer 2

One example of rapid evolution is the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This occurs when bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, and the ones with genetic mutations that make them resistant survive and reproduce, passing on their resistance genes to future generations at a fast rate.