What We Discovered
The simulation revealed that overtime Pacific salmon populations tended to become smaller and returned to spawn earlier, supporting the idea that human activities are during evolutionary changes. This outcome was consistent with real world observations where data has shown a decline in salmon body size and shifts in migration timing due to overfishing and climate change. Also as predicted, warmer river temperatures negatively affected late-spawning salmon, leading to a gradual increase in earlier spawning behavior across the population. One unexpected result was how quickly these changes occurred and evolutionary shifts appeared within a few generations in the simulation, highlighting how strong and fast-acting these human-induced pressures can be.
