Evolution Letters最新文献

{"title":"Live birth in lizards: A process-based model for the roles of temperature, behavior, and life-history.","authors":"Guillermo Garcia-Costoya, Saúl F Domínguez-Guerrero, Lutz Fromhage, Matthew E Gifford, Eric A Riddell, Michael L Logan","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf043","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Life-history traits evolve to optimize fitness trade-offs across an organism's life cycle. Potentially to mediate the trade-off between survival and fecundity, multiple animal groups have independently evolved live birth (viviparity), including at least 70 transitions in lizards alone. In lizards, viviparity is thought to evolve as a mechanism to improve embryonic development in cold climates (cold climate hypothesis, or CCH), possibly at the expense of the mother's survival. Past comparative studies often align with the CCH's predictions, but they usually treat core features of the hypothesis as implicit and, most importantly, infer process from pattern rather than testing causal mechanisms. To address this, we developed a process-based model that integrates behavior, thermal physiology, life history, and climate to predict optimal gestation length in lizards globally. We generated a comprehensive trait database of 89 lizard populations that vary in parity mode, and we used ecophysiological modelling to test our model's predictive power. Our model produced accurate predictions, strongly supporting the hypothesis that cold climates favor the evolution of viviparity in lizards and revealing the ecological contexts and underlying mechanisms by which this life history strategy evolves.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"65-76"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870859/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can the right partner mitigate harm? Rhizobial strains vary in their mediation of herbicide stress in a plant-rhizobia mutualism.","authors":"Veronica Iriart, Nanami Kubota, Tia-Lynn Ashman","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf042","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf042","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Agriculture has intensified the presence of chemical stressors in the rhizosphere-the region surrounding roots where critical plant-microbe interactions occur, such as those between leguminous plants and nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria. Particularly, rhizospheric pesticide exposure can disrupt the efficacy of the plant-rhizobia mutualism and reduce plant productivity. However, it is unknown whether genetic variation in plants (G_P), rhizobia (G_R), or interactions between them and the pesticide environment (E), i.e., G_{P or R}  [Formula: see text] E, or G_P  [Formula: see text] G_R  [Formula: see text] E, could mitigate these negative outcomes. We grew two genotypes of the leguminous plant <i>Trifolium pratense</i> in symbiosis with each of eight genetic strains of its rhizobial partner <i>Rhizobium spp</i>. symbiovar <i>trifolii</i>. We exposed symbionts to the contemporary synthetic auxin herbicide dicamba or a control in the rhizosphere, and evaluated the symbiotic interaction and plant growth. Our results provide new evidence that rhizobial genetic variation drives herbicide impacts on mutualism outcomes through G_R  [Formula: see text] E interactions. Rhizospheric herbicide delayed rhizobial colonization of plants via root nodule formation, but its effects on the number of nodules and fixed nitrogen produced varied depending on rhizobial strain. Similarly, while herbicide exposure reduced plant size on average, the degree of this effect was mediated by rhizobial partner, suggesting that rhizobia could potentially function as an \"extended genotype\" for defense against herbicide damage. As the use of herbicides, particularly synthetic auxins, continues to escalate, our findings have important implications for how certain rhizobia could be selected to improve plant fitness in the face of these anthropogenically-released chemicals.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"54-64"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870875/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolution of phenotypic plasticity owing to migration.","authors":"Davorka Gulisija, Mitchell Newberry","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf040","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Phenotypic plasticity enables organisms to produce better-suited phenotypes when the environment changes, improving fitness under adverse conditions. Yet responding to environmental cues may provide little use in a constant environment, where organisms already express optimal phenotypes. The forces that sustain plasticity and account for its widespread presence, thus, remain unclear, as plasticity must remain advantageous to persist. Although typically associated with changing environments, maintenance of plasticity requires generational turnover such that parents and offspring regularly encounter different conditions. Here, we demonstrate that even a low number of migrants between locally adapted populations, in constant environments, can promote the emergence and persistence of phenotypic plasticity even when plasticity is costly and never associated with the fittest genotype, independent of its genetic architecture. We support this conclusion by exploring the parameter space of a two-locus, two-deme model using stochastic simulations and analytical approximations. We derive analytical conditions under which plasticity is adaptively maintained as a function of selection strength, migration, and fitness trade-offs. These findings reveal new potential evolutionary origins of plasticity and offer insight into how maladaptive traits can invade adapted populations in stable environments.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"31-41"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870872/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fast females, slow males: accelerated ageing and reproductive senescence in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> females across diverse social environments.","authors":"Lauren M Harrison, Jessica Hughes, Amanda Bretman, Alexei A Maklakov, Tracey Chapman","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf041","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf041","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Females and males typically differ in lifespan, patterns of ageing, and reproduction. General explanations for variation in the magnitude of this sex-specificity remain elusive, and the role of the social environment in this context is under-explored. Sexual selection theory predicts that males should adopt a \"live fast, die young\" strategy, as their fitness is likely to be contingent on intense investment to achieve success in competing for potentially few matings. However, there is a growing realization that sexual selection can act on a much broader suite of \"general performance\" traits than only those directly related to mating competition. This, combined with frequently observed high costs of reproduction in females, makes an alternative prediction-that ageing and reproductive senescence can be high for females, and could potentially exceed what is seen in males. We tested these contrasting predictions in the fruit fly <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>, using assays in which both sexes competed for reproductive opportunities over their lifetimes within varying socio-sexual environments. Females consistently exhibited \"live fast, die young\" life histories, whereas males had significantly longer lifespans and showed only limited declines in age-specific fitness and mating performance. We also identified new same-sex exposure effects-females housed with females exhibited faster reproductive ageing at a marginal lifespan cost, whereas corresponding males maintained higher courtship and activity with age, with no detectable effect on lifespan. The results highlight the crucial importance of social environments to the study of ageing and fitness. The possibility that rapid reproductive senescence is widespread in females is key to broadening our holistic understanding of the biology of sex differences in ageing and reproduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"42-53"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870849/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Joint test of historical vs. contemporary biogeography supports abundant center hypothesis shaping spatial patterns of self-fertilization.","authors":"Mackenzie Urquhart-Cronish, Ken A Thompson, Amy L Angert","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf034","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant reproductive assurance describes the ability of a plant to successfully reproduce in an environment that is potentially devoid of conspecifics and/or pollinators. Traditionally, studies have focused on contemporary ecology-pollinator or mate availability-driving spatial patterns in reproductive assurance; however, historical processes-post-glacial range expansion-may be an understudied alternative explanation because during range expansion, selection should favor individuals with traits promoting reproductive assurance (i.e., autonomous selfing or clonal reproduction) at the range edge. While historical tests would be rooted in phylogeographic analyses, the role of contemporary ecology can be tested indirectly using the abundant center hypothesis, where it is assumed population density decreases from the range center toward marginal habitat. We used Northern pink monkeyflower-<i>Erythranthe</i> (<i>Mimulus</i>) <i>lewisii</i>-a hermaphroditic, perennial, alpine plant, to concurrently investigate the role of historical range expansion and the abundant-center hypothesis using a greenhouse survey of range-wide reproductive assurance. First, we detected significant geographic variation among populations in self-fertilization and clonal propagation. Next, using genomic data and phylogeographic analyses, we identified three distinct genetic clusters and estimated the geographic location of the most likely origins of range expansion within each cluster. We then used filtered range-wide occurrence records to identify the geographic center of the range. We used our two relative measures of population distance from the range center (historical vs. contemporary) in univariate zero-inflated models to test whether historic or contemporary biogeography better explained spatial variation in reproductive assurance. We found that the probability of autonomous selfing significantly increased, on average, with distance from the inferred contemporary range center, consistent with the abundant-center hypothesis. Models of probability of clonal propagation showed statistical support for historical range expansion, but model performance metrics favored the abundant center hypothesis model. Future work can test the support for contemporary ecology shaping range-wide reproductive assurance in <i>E. lewisii</i>, which is linked to variation in evolutionary potential, adaptability, and population persistence.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"12-30"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870883/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gene expression evolution is predicted by stronger indirect selection at more pleiotropic genes.","authors":"Eva L Koch, Charles Rocabert, Champak Beeravolu Reddy, Frédéric Guillaume","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf039","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf039","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Changes in gene expression levels are central to adaptation, yet predicting and understanding their evolution remains challenging. Here, we used transcriptome-wide variation in the red flour beetle <i>Tribolium castaneum</i> to identify genes under selection for expression changes during adaptation to heat and drought stress and to uncover the mechanisms driving these changes. We found that estimates of genetic selection on expression levels were predictive of their evolutionary changes after 20 generations across seven independent selection lines. Evolution was largely caused by indirect selection acting on genetically correlated genes rather than by direct selection on individual genes. Consequently, central genes in co-expression networks experienced stronger selection and larger expression changes. Our genomic analysis revealed that selection on expression levels is associated with parallel allele frequency changes in the respective genes, especially in pleiotropic genes and those carrying expression quantitative trait loci, with stronger genetic selection corresponding to greater parallelism. Contrary to previous evidence of constrained evolution at more connected genes, adaptation was driven by selection acting disproportionately on genes central to co-expression gene networks. Overall, our results demonstrated that selection measured at the transcriptome level not only predicts future gene expression evolution but also provides mechanistic insight into the genetic architecture of adaptation.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"9 6","pages":"719-730"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12676468/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145702530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sexual selection and speciation: a meta-analysis of comparative studies.","authors":"Tim Janicke, Tamra C Mendelson, Michael G Ritchie, Lucas Marie-Orleach, Jeanne Tonnabel","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf038","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf038","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the drivers of biodiversity is a central goal in evolutionary biology. In particular, sexual selection has long been proposed as a potential catalyst of speciation, but empirical evidence remains inconclusive. Here, we present a comprehensive meta-analysis synthesizing 145 effect sizes from 50 comparative studies testing the relationship between proxies of sexual selection and species diversity across the animal kingdom. Our results reveal a modest but consistent positive association (global effect size: <i>r</i> = 0.201; 95% confidence interval: 0.035-0.366), supporting the hypothesis that sexual selection contributes to speciation. However, the global effect size corresponds to an <i>R</i> ² of only 0.04, suggesting that sexual selection is not a dominant driver of speciation. We also uncover substantial heterogeneity among effect sizes, largely attributable to between-study variation and taxonomic affinities of effect sizes. Studies that fail to account for phylogenetic non-independence tend to report stronger effects. In contrast, other tested methodological and biological moderators, such as the proxies used to estimate the strength of sexual selection or proxies of speciation, do not explain the observed heterogeneity in effect sizes. Sensitivity analyses confirm the robustness of our results, and we find no signatures of publication bias. We highlight the need for broader taxonomic coverage and a greater focus on understudied mechanisms, such as post-copulatory sexual selection, to refine our understanding of the role of sexual selection in shaping species diversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"9 6","pages":"617-627"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12676459/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145702594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multivariate trait evolution: models for the evolution of the quantitative genetic <i>G</i>-matrix on phylogenies.","authors":"Simone P Blomberg, Michelle Muniz, Mai Ngoc Bui, Cooper Janke","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf037","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genetic covariance matrices (<i>G</i>-matrices) are a key focus for research and predictions from quantitative genetic evolutionary models of multiple traits. There is a consensus among quantitative geneticists that the <i>G</i>-matrix can evolve through deep time. Yet, quantitative genetic models for the evolution of the <i>G</i>-matrix are lacking. In contrast, the field of macroevolution has several stochastic models for univariate traits evolving on phylogenies. However, analytical models of how multivariate trait matrices might evolve on phylogenies have not been considered. Here, we show how three analytical models for matrix evolution can be combined to unify quantitative genetics and macroevolutionary theory in a coherent mathematical framework. The models provide a basis for understanding how <i>G</i>-matrices might evolve on phylogenies. We fit models to data <i>via</i> simulation using Approximate Bayesian Computation. Such models can be used to generate and test hypotheses about the evolution of genetic variances and covariances, together with the evolution of the traits themselves, and how these might vary across a phylogeny. This unification of macroevolutionary theory and quantitative genetics is an advance in the study of phenotypes, allowing for the construction of a synthetic quantitative theory of the evolution of species and multivariate traits over deep time.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"9 6","pages":"706-718"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12676466/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145702567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Temporal dynamics and adaptiveness of thermal phenotypic plasticity in a ciliate.","authors":"Léonard Dupont, Delphine Legrand, Mélanie Thierry, Staffan Jacob","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf030","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Phenotypic plasticity is a widespread strategy used by organisms to cope with environmental fluctuations. Empirical studies have mostly focused on describing the amplitude of phenotypic change through reaction norms, which ignore the temporal dynamics of plasticity. Although the speed of plastic responses has recurrently been predicted to modulate their adaptiveness, it remains largely understudied. Here, we retraced the time course of plasticity across four traits in 12 isogenic strains of the ciliate <i>Tetrahymena thermophila</i> to test how the temporal dynamics of plasticity mediate its adaptiveness under fluctuations. We decomposed plastic responses into 3 parameters: a lag and a rate describing their temporal dimension and the canonical plastic capacity. All showed high intraspecific variability. We found the plastic capacity to be positively correlated to the rate of plasticity and not to the time required for plastic changes to be implemented. We then linked the dynamics of plasticity to how strains performed across a gradient of fluctuation periods. The temporal parameters of plasticity significantly explained performance in fluctuating conditions, more so than the plastic capacity alone. Interestingly, strains mounting morphological plasticity at a slower rate tended to be less sensitive to fluctuations. This study demonstrates that a better understanding of how organisms cope with environmental change requires us to consider and incorporate the temporal dynamics of plasticity in theories and experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"9 6","pages":"651-662"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12676462/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145702608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The hidden threat: genetic load dynamics in tetraploids and diploids.","authors":"Víctor Hugo Muñoz Mora, Francesco Giannelli, Leonardo Congiu, Hernán E Morales, Giorgio Bertorelle","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf036","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf036","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Polyploids are organisms with three or more chromosome sets, which often give them different physiology, morphology, and evolutionary properties. The impact of polyploidy on the genetic load dynamics, in terms of accumulation, fixation, and purging of deleterious mutations, is largely unknown. Here, we use forward-in-time genomic simulations to compare the fitness effects of genetic load components assuming diploid and tetraploid populations under different demographic scenarios. Under partial recessiveness, we show that tetraploids tend to accumulate a higher genetic load than diploids in small and large populations, with negative consequences on their fitness. Under complete recessiveness, the same pattern is observed only in small populations, but similar load effects are found in large diploid and tetraploid populations under mutation-drift equilibrium. The only scenario where tetraploids suffered less from the effects of genetic load was in bottlenecked populations under complete recessiveness. Our results highlight the importance of factors such as demography, dominance and selection coefficients, and genetic drift in shaping the different patterns of accumulation of deleterious mutations in diploids and tetraploids. While some studies have suggested that tetraploids might have a reduced genetic load because recessive mutations could be masked more efficiently, our findings align more closely with evidence that tetraploids frequently accumulate a higher genetic load than diploids. This insight is significant for assessing the role of ploidy in the conservation of endangered species.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"9 6","pages":"696-705"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12676464/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145702559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}