Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Evolution
Cryogenian glacial habitats as a plant terrestrialisation cradle – the origin of the anydrophytes and Zygnematophyceae split
Published: 2021-07-21
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
For tens of millions of years (Ma), the terrestrial habitats of Snowball Earth during the Cryogenian period (between 720 to 635 Ma before present – Neoproterozoic Era) were possibly dominated by global snow and ice cover up to the equatorial sublimative desert. The most recent time-calibrated phylogenies calibrated not only on plants but on a comprehensive set of eukaryotes indicate that within [...]
The ecology of wealth inequality in animal societies
Published: 2021-07-14
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
Individuals vary in their access to resources, social connections, and phenotypic traits, and a central goal of evolutionary biology is to understand how this variation arises and influences fitness. Parallel research on humans has focused on the causes and consequences of variation in material possessions, opportunity, and health. Central to both fields of study is that unequal distribution of [...]
What do we mean by multicellularity? The Evolutionary Transitions Framework provides answers
Published: 2021-07-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The meaning of the word ‘multicellularity’ appears to be unambiguous – a concept that can be grasped with common sense. On closer inspection, however, there is notable disparity in the recent literature regarding the usage of the term ‘multicellularity’, which can describe complex organisms, simple microbial colonies or even multi-species biofilms. In addition, while emerging research directions, [...]
Impact of Developmental Temperatures On The Repeatability of Thermal Plasticity in Metabolic Rate
Published: 2021-07-05
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Phenotypic plasticity is an important mechanism that allows populations to adjust to changing environments. Plastic responses induced by early life experiences can have lasting impacts on how individuals respond to environmental variation later in life (i.e., reversible plasticity). Developmental environments can also influence repeatability of plastic responses thereby altering the capacity for [...]
Integrating natural and sexual selection across the biphasic life cycle
Published: 2021-06-24
Subjects: Agriculture, Behavior and Ethology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Developmental Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Food Biotechnology, Food Science, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
An alternation between diploid and haploid phases is universal among sexual eukaryotes. Across this biphasic cycle, natural selection and sexual selection occur in both phases. Together, these four stages of selection act on the phenotypes of individuals and influence the evolutionary trajectories of populations, but are rarely studied holistically. Here, we provide a conceptual framework that [...]
The quantitative genetics of fitness in a wild seabird
Published: 2021-06-19
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Additive genetic variance in fitness is a prerequisite for adaptive evolution, as a trait must be genetically correlated with fitness to evolve. Despite its relevance, additive genetic variance in fitness has not often been estimated in nature. Here, we investigate additive genetic variance in lifetime and annual fitness components in common terns (Sterna hirundo). Using 28 years of data [...]
Impact of Infectious Disease on Humans and Our Origins
Published: 2021-06-19
Subjects: Anthropology, Archaeological Anthropology, Arts and Humanities, Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Biological Phenomena, Cell Phenomena, and Immunity, Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetic Phenomena, Genetics, Genetics and Genomics, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, Life Sciences, Medical Biochemistry, Medical Cell Biology, Medical Genetics, Medical Immunology, Medical Microbiology, Medical Molecular Biology, Medical Pathology, Medical Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Pathogenic Microbiology, Pharmacology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Virology
On May 16, 2020, the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny organized the symposium “Impact of Infectious Disease on Humans and Our Origins”. The symposium aimed to gather experts on infectious diseases in one place and discuss the interrelationship between different pathogens and humans in an evolutionary context. The talks discussed topics including SARS-CoV-2, dengue and [...]
The macroevolutionary consequences of niche construction in microbial metabolism
Published: 2021-05-31
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Population Biology, Systems Biology
Microorganisms display a stunning metabolic diversity. Understanding the origin of this diversity requires understanding how macroevolutionary processes such as innovation and diversification play out in the microbial world. Metabolic networks, which govern microbial resource use, can evolve through different mechanisms, e.g. horizontal gene transfer or de novo evolution of enzymes and pathways. [...]
On the Multifunctionality of Feathers and the Evolution of BIrds
Published: 2021-05-27
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
Abstract The ability feathers have to perform many functions simultaneously and at different times is integral to the evolutionary history of all birds. Many studies focus on single functions of feathers; but any given feather performs many functions over its lifetime. Here, we review the known functions of feathers and discuss the interactions of these functions with avian evolution. Recent [...]
Social capital: an independent dimension of healthy ageing
Published: 2021-05-24
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Physiology, Public Health, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Zoology
Resources that are embedded in social relationships, such as shared knowledge, access to food, services, social support or cooperation, are all examples of social capital. Social capital is recognized as an important age-related mediator of health in humans and of fitness-related traits in animals. A rich social capital in humans can slow senescence and reverse age-related deficits. Animals have [...]
Species comparison of among- and within-individual variation and correlations
Published: 2021-05-20
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Individuals frequently differ consistently from one another in their average behaviors (i.e. “animal personality”) and in correlated suites of consistent behavioral responses (i.e. “behavioral syndromes”). However, understanding the evolutionary basis of this (co)variation has lagged behind demonstrations of its presence. This lag partially stems from comparative methods rarely being used in the [...]
Male age alone predicts paternity success under sperm competition when effects of age and past mating effort are experimentally separated
Published: 2021-05-10
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Older males often perform poorly under post-copulatory sexual selection. It is unclear, however, whether reproductive senescence is due to male age itself or the accumulated costs of the higher lifetime mating effort that is usually associated with male age. To date, very few studies have accounted for male mating history when testing for the effect of male age on sperm traits, and none test how [...]
Evolution of pathogen tolerance and emerging infections: A missing experimental paradigm
Published: 2021-04-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Researchers worldwide are repeatedly warning us against future zoonotic diseases resulting from mankind’s insurgence into natural ecosystems. The same zoonotic pathogens that cause severe infections in a human host fail to produce any disease outcome in their natural hosts. What precise features of the immune system enable natural reservoirs to carry these pathogens so efficiently? To understand [...]
Sex-specific behavioral syndromes allow the independent evolution of behavioral dimorphism
Published: 2021-04-27
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
When selection differs by sex, the capacity for sexes to reach optimal phenotypes can be constrained by the shared genome of males and females. Because phenotypic traits are often correlated, this difference extends across multiple traits and underlying genetic correlations can further constrain evolutionary responses. Behaviors are frequently correlated as behavioral syndromes, and these [...]
Early predation risk shapes adult learning and cognitive flexibility
Published: 2021-03-24
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Predation risk during early ontogeny can impact developmental trajectories and permanently alter adult phenotypes. Such phenotypic plasticity often leads to adaptive changes in traits involved in anti-predator responses. While plastic changes in cognition may increase survival, it remains unclear whether early predation experience shapes cognitive investment and drives developmental plasticity in [...]