scholarly journals Behavioural changes and the adaptive diversification of pigeons and doves

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1755) ◽  
pp. 20122893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oriol Lapiedra ◽  
Daniel Sol ◽  
Salvador Carranza ◽  
Jeremy M. Beaulieu
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Adaptive Diversification ◽  
Behavioural Changes ◽  
Evolutionary Diversification ◽  
Morphological Specialization ◽  
Phenotypic Diversification ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

What factors determine the extent of evolutionary diversification remains a major question in evolutionary biology. Behavioural changes have long been suggested to be a major driver of phenotypic diversification by exposing animals to new selective pressures. Nevertheless, the role of behaviour in evolution remains controversial because behavioural changes can also retard evolutionary change by hiding genetic variation from selection. In the present study, we apply recently implemented Ornstein–Uhlenbeck evolutionary models to show that behavioural changes led to associated evolutionary responses in functionally relevant morphological traits of pigeons and doves (Columbiformes). Specifically, changes from terrestrial to arboreal foraging behaviour reconstructed in a set of phylogenies brought associated shorter tarsi and longer tails, consistent with functional predictions. Interestingly, the transition to arboreality accelerated the rates of evolutionary divergence, leading to an increased morphological specialization that seems to have subsequently constrained reversals to terrestrial foraging. Altogether, our results support the view that behaviour may drive evolutionary diversification, but they also highlight that its evolutionary consequences largely depend on the limits imposed by the functional demands of the adaptive zone.

scholarly journals Inducible competitors and adaptive diversification

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beren W. Robinson ◽  
David W. Pfennig
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Phenotypic Differences ◽  
Adaptive Diversification ◽  
Divergent Natural Selection

Abstract Identifying the causes of diversification is central to evolutionary biology. The ecological theory of adaptive diversification holds that the evolution of phenotypic differences between populations and species—and the formation of new species—stems from divergent natural selection, often arising from competitive interactions. Although increasing evidence suggests that phenotypic plasticity can facilitate this process, it is not generally appreciated that competitively mediated selection often also provides ideal conditions for phenotypic plasticity to evolve in the first place. Here, we discuss how competition plays at least two key roles in adaptive diversification depending on its pattern. First, heterogenous competition initially generates heterogeneity in resource use that favors adaptive plasticity in the form of “inducible competitors”. Second, once such competitively induced plasticity evolves, its capacity to rapidly generate phenotypic variation and expose phenotypes to alternate selective regimes allows populations to respond readily to selection favoring diversification, as may occur when competition generates steady diversifying selection that permanently drives the evolutionary divergence of populations that use different resources. Thus, competition plays two important roles in adaptive diversification—one well-known and the other only now emerging—mediated through its effect on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity.

scholarly journals Evolutionary consequences of epigenetically induced phenotypic switching

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Stajic ◽  
Claudia Bank
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Gene Expression Regulation ◽  
Phenotypic Switching ◽  
Epigenetic Mechanisms ◽  
Fluctuating Environments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Exhaustive List

In this book chapter, we discuss the importance of phenotypic switching with respect to adaptation. Hereby, we focus on epigenetic mechanisms of phenotypic switching that are involved in gene expression regulation. We start by placing the discovery of phenotypic switching in the context of the history of evolutionary biology. We highlight how the controversy about whether phenotypic switching can contribute to adaptation arose. We then present a non-exhaustive list of examples of epigenetic phenotypic switching in nature. Finally, we discuss several evolutionary hypotheses about the role of phenotypic switching in adaptation to new and fluctuating environments, and give examples of how these hypotheses have been addressed experimentally.

scholarly journals MicroRNA Gene Regulation in Extremely Young and Parallel Adaptive Radiations of Crater Lake Cichlid Fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 2498-2511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Franchini ◽  
Peiwen Xiong ◽  
Carmelo Fruciano ◽  
Ralf F Schneider ◽  
Joost M Woltering ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Regulation ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Mirna Gene ◽  
Evolutionary Divergence ◽  
Mirna Regulation ◽  
Gene Target ◽  
Gene Pairs ◽  
Phenotypic Diversification

AbstractCichlid fishes provide textbook examples of explosive phenotypic diversification and sympatric speciation, thereby making them ideal systems for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying rapid lineage divergence. Despite the fact that gene regulation provides a critical link between diversification in gene function and speciation, many genomic regulatory mechanisms such as microRNAs (miRNAs) have received little attention in these rapidly diversifying groups. Therefore, we investigated the posttranscriptional regulatory role of miRNAs in the repeated sympatric divergence of Midas cichlids (Amphilophus spp.) from Nicaraguan crater lakes. Using miRNA and mRNA sequencing of embryos from five Midas species, we first identified miRNA binding sites in mRNAs and highlighted the presences of a surprising number of novel miRNAs in these adaptively radiating species. Then, through analyses of expression levels, we identified putative miRNA/gene target pairs with negatively correlated expression level that were consistent with the role of miRNA in downregulating mRNA. Furthermore, we determined that several miRNA/gene pairs show convergent expression patterns associated with the repeated benthic/limnetic sympatric species divergence implicating these miRNAs as potential molecular mechanisms underlying replicated sympatric divergence. Finally, as these candidate miRNA/gene pairs may play a central role in phenotypic diversification in these cichlids, we characterized the expression domains of selected miRNAs and their target genes via in situ hybridization, providing further evidence that miRNA regulation likely plays a role in the Midas cichlid adaptive radiation. These results provide support for the hypothesis that extremely quickly evolving miRNA regulation can contribute to rapid evolutionary divergence even in the presence of gene flow.

It Keeps Me Seeking

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Briggs ◽  
Hans Halvorson ◽  
Andrew Steane
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Good Argument ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Argument From Design ◽  
Relationship Of

Two scientists and a philosopher aim to show how science both enriches and is enriched by Christian faith. The text is written around four themes: 1. God is a being to be known, not a hypothesis to be tested; 2. We set a high bar on what constitutes good argument; 3. Uncertainty is OK; 4. We are allowed to open up the window that the natural world offers us. This is not a work of apologetics. Rather, the text takes an overview of various themes and gives reactions and responses, intended to place science correctly as a valued component of the life of faith. The difference between philosophical analysis and theological reflection is expounded. Questions of human identity are addressed from philosophy, computer science, quantum physics, evolutionary biology and theological reflection. Contemporary physics reveals the subtle and open nature of physical existence, and offers lessons in how to learn and how to live with incomplete knowledge. The nature and role of miracles is considered. The ‘argument from design’ is critiqued, especially arguments from fine-tuning. Logical derivation from impersonal facts is not an appropriate route to a relationship of mutual trust. Mainstream evolutionary biology is assessed to be a valuable component of our understanding, but no exploratory process can itself fully account for the nature of what is discovered. To engage deeply in science is to seek truth and to seek a better future; it is also an activity of appreciation, as one may appreciate a work of art.

Limited Extended Inheritance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Merlin
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology

This chapter addresses the question of the extension of biological inheritance in the light of the fact that organisms inherit much more than DNA. Starting from recent proposals to reconceive the concept of biological inheritance, the chapter shows that one of the main assumptions in the literature is simply taken for granted without providing any evidence or argument to support it. The chapter first analyzes four distinctions—and the lessons drawn from them—and then proposes a redefinition of inheritance, which brings to the fore its privileged link with reproduction and the specific theoretical role of this concept in evolutionary biology.

Challenging the Modern Synthesis

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Modern Synthesis ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Original Essays ◽  
New Biology ◽  
Conceptual Foundations ◽  
Orthodox View

Since its origin in the early 20th century, the modern synthesis theory of evolution has grown to represent the orthodox view on the process of organic evolution. It is a powerful and successful theory. Its defining features include the prominence it accords to genes in the explanation of development and inheritance, and the role of natural selection as the cause of adaptation. Since the advent of the 21st century, however, the modern synthesis has been subject to repeated and sustained challenges. In the last two decades, evolutionary biology has witnessed unprecedented growth in the understanding of those processes that underwrite the development of organisms and the inheritance of characters. The empirical advances usher in challenges to the conceptual foundations of evolutionary theory. Many current commentators charge that the new biology of the 21st century calls for a revision, extension, or wholesale rejection of the modern synthesis theory of evolution. Defenders of the modern synthesis maintain that the theory can accommodate the exciting new advances in biology, without forfeiting its central precepts. The original essays collected in this volume—by evolutionary biologists, philosophers of science, and historians of biology—survey and assess the various challenges to the modern synthesis arising from the new biology of the 21st century. Taken together, the essays cover a spectrum of views, from those that contend that the modern synthesis can rise to the challenges of the new biology, with little or no revision required, to those that call for the abandonment of the modern synthesis.

scholarly journals Defining the niche for niche construction: evolutionary and ecological niches

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Trappes
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Ecological Niche ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Niche Concept ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Compare And Contrast ◽  
Extreme Habitat

AbstractNiche construction theory (NCT) aims to transform and unite evolutionary biology and ecology. Much of the debate about NCT has focused on construction. Less attention has been accorded to the niche: what is it, exactly, that organisms are constructing? In this paper I compare and contrast the definition of the niche used in NCT with ecological niche definitions. NCT’s concept of the evolutionary niche is defined as the sum of selection pressures affecting a population. So defined, the evolutionary niche is narrower than the ecological niche. Moreover, when contrasted with a more restricted ecological niche concept, it has a slightly different extension. I point out three kinds of cases in which the evolutionary niche does not coincide with realized ecological niches: extreme habitat degradation, commensalism, and non-limiting or super-abundant resources. These conceptual differences affect the role of NCT in unifying ecology and evolutionary biology.

scholarly journals Evolutionary biology meets consciousness: essay review of Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka’s The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Browning ◽  
Walter Veit
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Essay Review ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Evolution Of Consciousness ◽  
Initial Resistance ◽  
Metaphysical Claim ◽  
Mode Of Being

AbstractIn this essay, we discuss Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka’s The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul from an interdisciplinary perspective. Constituting perhaps the longest treatise on the evolution of consciousness, Ginsburg and Jablonka unite their expertise in neuroscience and biology to develop a beautifully Darwinian account of the dawning of subjective experience. Though it would be impossible to cover all its content in a short book review, here we provide a critical evaluation of their two key ideas—the role of Unlimited Associative Learning in the evolution of, and detection of, consciousness and a metaphysical claim about consciousness as a mode of being—in a manner that will hopefully overcome some of the initial resistance of potential readers to tackle a book of this length.

scholarly journals The Cardamine hirsuta genome offers insight into the evolution of morphological diversity

Nature Plants ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangchao Gan ◽  
Angela Hay ◽  
Michiel Kwantes ◽  
Georg Haberer ◽  
Asis Hallab ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
Gene Duplications ◽  
Tandem Gene Duplication ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Differential Gene

Abstract Finding causal relationships between genotypic and phenotypic variation is a key focus of evolutionary biology, human genetics and plant breeding. To identify genome-wide patterns underlying trait diversity, we assembled a high-quality reference genome of Cardamine hirsuta, a close relative of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We combined comparative genome and transcriptome analyses with the experimental tools available in C. hirsuta to investigate gene function and phenotypic diversification. Our findings highlight the prevalent role of transcription factors and tandem gene duplications in morphological evolution. We identified a specific role for the transcriptional regulators PLETHORA5/7 in shaping leaf diversity and link tandem gene duplication with differential gene expression in the explosive seed pod of C. hirsuta. Our work highlights the value of comparative approaches in genetically tractable species to understand the genetic basis for evolutionary change.

scholarly journals Evolution in the cold

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Antarctic Fish ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Evolutionary Studies ◽  
Adaptive Radiations ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

Theodosius Dobzhansky once remarked that nothing in biology makes sense other than in the light of evolution, thereby emphasising the central role of evolutionary studies in providing the theoretical context for all of biology. It is perhaps surprising then that evolutionary biology has played such a small role to date in Antarctic science. This is particularly so when it is recognised that the polar regions provide us with an unrivalled laboratory within which to undertake evolutionary studies. The Antarctic exhibits one of the classic examples of a resistance adaptation (antifreeze peptides and glycopeptides, first described from Antarctic fish), and provides textbook examples of adaptive radiations (for example amphipod crustaceans and notothenioid fish). The land is still largely in the grip of major glaciation, and the once rich terrestrial floras and faunas of Cenozoic Gondwana are now highly depauperate and confined to relatively small patches of habitat, often extremely isolated from other such patches. Unlike the Arctic, where organisms are returning to newly deglaciated land from refugia on the continental landmasses to the south, recolonization of Antarctica has had to take place by the dispersal of propagules over vast distances. Antarctica thus offers an insight into the evolutionary responses of terrestrial floras and faunas to extreme climatic change unrivalled in the world. The sea forms a strong contrast to the land in that here the impact of climate appears to have been less severe, at least in as much as few elements of the fauna show convincing signs of having been completely eradicated.

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