Evolution in a Bottle: Can Artificial Environments Create New Species?

[poeteye]

Is there any reason that evolution can't take place in an artificial environment? I contend that, just as hybrid swarms of plants in Nature can stabilize into new species, the process of prolonged hybridization can artificially create new species. I have been told that these hothouse plants would not survive outside the greenhouse and are therefore not valid new species. Is it generally accepted that evolution can only occur in Nature?

 

[Danger]

Any widespread and (semi)permanent adaptation is evolution, as far as I'm concerned, regardless of the environment.

 

[Rade]

Of course "evolution" can occur in a bottle--even in a flask in the lab--see just a few examples here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/science/26lab.html
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/cond-mat/pdf/0102/0102273v1.pdf