{"title":"Tangled banks, braided rivers, and complex hierarchies: beyond microevolution and macroevolution.","authors":"Maureen Kearney, Bruce S Lieberman, Luke C Strotz","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae065","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ever since the Modern Synthesis, a debate about the relationship between microevolution and macroevolution has persisted-specifically, whether they are equivalent, distinct, or explain one another. How one answers these questions has become shorthand for a much broader set of theoretical debates in evolutionary biology. Here, we examine microevolution and macroevolution in the context of the vast proliferation of data, knowledge, and theory since the advent of the Modern Synthesis. We suggest that traditional views on microevolution and macroevolution are too binary and reductive given current empirical and theoretical advances in biology. For example, patterns and processes are interconnected at various temporal and spatial scales and among hierarchical entities, rather than defining micro- or macro-domains. Further, biological entities have variably fuzzy boundaries, resulting in complex evolutionary processes that influence macroevolution occuring at both micro- and macro-levels. In addition, conceptual advances in phylodynamics have yet to be fully integrated with contemporary macroevolutionary approaches. Finally, holding microevolution and macroevolution as distinct domains thwarts synthesis and collaboration on important research questions. Instead, we propose that the focal entities and processes considered by evolutionary studies be contextualized within the complexity of the multidimensional, multimodal, multilevel phylogenetic system.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1402-1412"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Opening the species box: what parsimonious microscopic models of speciation have to say about macroevolution.","authors":"Élisa Couvert, François Bienvenu, Jean-Jil Duchamps, Adélie Erard, Verónica Miró Pina, Emmanuel Schertzer, Amaury Lambert","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae134","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae134","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the last two decades, lineage-based models of diversification, where species are viewed as particles that can divide (speciate) or die (become extinct) at rates depending on some evolving trait, have been very popular tools to study macroevolutionary processes. Here, we argue that this approach cannot be used to break down the inner workings of species diversification and that \"opening the species box\" is necessary to understand the causes of macroevolution, but that too detailed speciation models also fail to make robust macroevolutionary predictions. We set up a general framework for parsimonious models of speciation that rely on a minimal number of mechanistic principles: (a) reproductive isolation is caused by excessive dissimilarity between genotypes; (b) dissimilarity results from a balance between differentiation processes and homogenizing processes; and (c) dissimilarity can feed back on these processes by decelerating homogenization. We classify such models according to the main homogenizing process: (a) clonal evolution models (ecological drift), (b) models of genetic isolation (gene flow), and (c) models of isolation by distance (spatial drift). We review these models and their specific predictions on macroscopic variables such as species abundances, speciation rates, interfertility relationships, or phylogenetic tree structure. We propose new avenues of research by displaying conceptual questions remaining to be solved and new models to address them: the failure of speciation at secondary contact, the feedback of dissimilarity on homogenization, and the emergence in space of breeding barriers.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1433-1457"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142523545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kjetil Lysne Voje, Megumi Saito-Kato, Trisha L Spanbauer
{"title":"Evolution in fossil time series reconciles observations in micro- and macroevolution.","authors":"Kjetil Lysne Voje, Megumi Saito-Kato, Trisha L Spanbauer","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae087","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extrapolating microevolutionary models does not always provide satisfactory explanations for phenotypic diversification on million-year time scales. For example, short-term evolutionary change is often modelled assuming a fixed adaptive landscape, but macroevolutionary changes are likely to involve changes in the adaptive landscape itself. A better understanding of how the adaptive landscape changes across different time intervals and how these changes cause populations to evolve has the potential to narrow the gap between micro- and macroevolution. Here, we analyze two fossil diatom time series of exceptional quality and resolution covering time intervals of a few hundred thousand years using models that account for different behaviours of the adaptive landscape. We find that one of the lineages evolves on a randomly and continuously changing landscape, whereas the other lineage evolves on a landscape that shows a rapid shift in the position of the adaptive peak of a magnitude that is typically associated with species-level differentiation. This suggests phenotypic evolution beyond generational timescales may be a consequence of both gradual and sudden repositioning of adaptive peaks. Both lineages show rapid and erratic evolutionary change and are constantly readapting towards the optimal trait state, observations that align with evolutionary dynamics commonly observed in contemporary populations. The inferred trait evolution over a span of a few hundred thousand years in these two lineages is, therefore, chimeric in the sense that it combines components of trait evolution typically observed on both short and long timescales.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1551-1562"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141621627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Within-population variation in preference functions reveals substantial among-female disagreement in mate assessment.","authors":"Kane Stratman, Gerlinde Höbel","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae109","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae109","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mate choice behaviours of females can greatly affect patterns of reproductive success in males and influence the evolution of sexually selected male traits. Population-level estimates of display preferences may provide an accurate estimate of the strength and direction of selection by female choice if all females in the population show homogeneous preferences. However, population-level estimates may yield misleading estimates if there is within-population variation in mate preferences. While it is increasingly clear that the latter situation is common in nature, empirical data on the magnitude of variation in female preferences are required to improve our current understanding of its potential evolutionary consequences. We explored variations in female preference functions for 3 male call properties in a treefrog. We document substantial within-population variation not only in peak preferences but also in preference function shape (open, closed, flat), with at best 62% of females sharing a preference function shape with the respective population curve. Our findings suggest that population curves may accurately capture the direction of sexual selection, but depending on the properties of the constituting individual functions they may over- or underestimate the strength of selection. Particularly population estimates suggesting weak selection may in fact hide the presence of individual females with strong but opposing preferences. Moreover, due to the high within-population variation in both peak preferences and preference function shapes, the population functions drastically underestimate the predicted variation in male mating success in the population.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1278-1287"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142156527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Suzanne Edmands, Jacob R Denova, Ben A Flanagan, Murad Jah, Scott L Applebaum
{"title":"Mitonuclear effects on sex ratio persist across generations in interpopulation hybrids.","authors":"Suzanne Edmands, Jacob R Denova, Ben A Flanagan, Murad Jah, Scott L Applebaum","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae123","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae123","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Eukaryotic energy production requires tight coordination between nuclear and mitochondrial gene products. Because males and females often have different energetic strategies, optimal mitonuclear coordination may be sex-specific. Previous work found evidence for sex-specific mitonuclear effects in the copepod Tigriopus californicus by comparing two parental lines and their reciprocal F1 crosses. However, an alternative hypothesis is that the patterns were driven by the parental source of nuclear alleles. Here, we test this alternative hypothesis by extending the same cross to F2 hybrids, which receive both maternal and paternal nuclear alleles from F1 hybrids. Results confirm mitonuclear effects on sex ratio, with distorted ratios persisting from the F1 to F2 generations, despite reduced fitness in F2 hybrids. No sex-by-cross interactions were found for other phenotypic traits measured. Mitochondrial DNA content was higher in females. Both routine metabolic rate and oxidative DNA damage were lower in F2 hybrids than in parentals. The persistence of sex-specific mitonuclear effects, even in the face of F2 hybrid breakdown, attests to the magnitude of these effects, which contribute to the maintenance of within-population mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1386-1393"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11531650/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142331495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesco Boatta, Jurgen van Hal, Leo W Beukeboom, Jacintha Ellers
{"title":"High-fat and high-sugar diets induce rapid adaptations of fat storage in the house fly Musca domestica L.","authors":"Francesco Boatta, Jurgen van Hal, Leo W Beukeboom, Jacintha Ellers","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae122","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae122","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dietary change can be a strong evolutionary force and lead to rapid adaptation in organisms. High-fat and high-sugar diets can challenge key metabolic pathways, negatively affecting other life history traits and inducing pathologies such as obesity and diabetes. In this study, we use experimental evolution to investigate the plastic and evolutionary responses to nutritionally unbalanced diets. We reared replicated lines of larvae of the housefly Musca domestica on a fat-enriched (FAT), a sugar-enriched (SUG), and a control (CTRL) diet for thirteen generations. We measured development time in each generation and larval growth and fat accumulation in generations 1, 7, and 13. Subsequently, all lines were reared for one generation on the control diet to detect any plastic and evolutionary changes. In the first generation, time to pupation decreased on a fat-rich diet and increased on a sugar-rich diet. The fat-rich diet increased fat accumulation and, to a lesser extent, the dry weight of the larvae. Multigenerational exposure to unbalanced diets caused compensatory changes in development time, dry weight, and absolute and relative fat content, although pattern and timing depended on diet and trait. When put back on a control diet, many of the changes induced by the unbalanced diets disappeared, indicating that the diet has large plastic effects. Nevertheless, fat-evolved lines still grew significantly larger than the sugar-evolved lines, and sugar-evolved lines had consistently lower fat content. This can be an effect of parental diet or an evolutionary change in nutrient metabolism as a consequence of multigenerational exposure to unbalanced diets.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1368-1377"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142394850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of intersexual interactions on survival can drive the evolution of female ornaments in the absence of mate limitation.","authors":"J Colton Watts, Courtney L Fitzpatrick","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae121","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolution of sexual ornaments in animals is typically attributed to reproductive competition. However, sexual ornaments also arise in contexts where the ornamented sex is neither mate nor gamete limited, and explanations for ornamentation in these cases remain incomplete. In many species, particularly those with slow life histories, lifetime reproductive success depends more strongly on adult survival than fecundity, and survival can depend on intersexual interactions. We develop a population genetic model to investigate how the effect of intersexual interactions on survival may contribute to ornament evolution in the absence of competition for mates. Using female ornamentation in polygynous mating systems as a case study, we show that, indeed, ornaments can evolve when the ornament functions to modify interactions with males in ways that enhance a female's own survival. The evolutionary dynamics depend qualitatively on the specific behavioral mechanism by which the ornament modifies social interactions. In all cases, the ornament's long-term persistence is ultimately determined by the coevolution of the male locus that determines how males affect female survival. We outline the scenarios that are most likely to favor the evolution of female ornaments through the effects of intersexual interactions on survival, and we urge empirical researchers to consider the potential for this social selection mechanism to shape traits of interest across taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1356-1367"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142299855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amy B Forsythe, Sarah P Otto, William A Nelson, Troy Day
{"title":"Variety is the spice of life: nongenetic variation in life histories influences population growth and evolvability.","authors":"Amy B Forsythe, Sarah P Otto, William A Nelson, Troy Day","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae107","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae107","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Individual vital rates, such as mortality and birth rates, are key determinants of lifetime reproductive success, and variability in these rates shapes population dynamics. Previous studies have found that this vital rate heterogeneity can influence demographic properties, including population growth rates. However, the explicit effects of the variation within and the covariance between vital rates that can also vary throughout the lifespan on population growth remain unknown. Here, we explore the analytical consequences of nongenetic heterogeneity on long-term population growth rates and rates of evolution by modifying traditional age-structured population projection matrices to incorporate variation among individual vital rates. The model allows vital rates to be permanent throughout life (\"fixed condition\") or to change over the lifespan (\"dynamic condition\"). We reduce the complexity associated with adding individual heterogeneity to age-structured models through a novel application of matrix collapsing (\"phenotypic collapsing\"), showing how to collapse in a manner that preserves the asymptotic and transient dynamics of the original matrix. The main conclusion is that nongenetic individual heterogeneity can strongly impact the long-term growth rate and rates of evolution. The magnitude and sign of this impact depend heavily on how the heterogeneity covaries across the lifespan of an organism. Our results emphasize that nongenetic variation cannot simply be viewed as random noise, but rather that it has consistent, predictable effects on fitness and evolvability.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1244-1263"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142299856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Divergent ornamentation within a single population of the barn swallow.","authors":"Emi Arai, Masaru Hasegawa, Chikage Yoshimizu, Naoto F Ishikawa, Naohiko Ohkouchi, Ichiro Tayasu","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae108","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae108","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Differential migration strategies favour different sets of characteristics, including sexually selected ornamentation. Such phenotypic variation is particularly evident in a population with partial migration, where migrants and nonmigrants co-exist. Partial migration provides insights into the link among migration, local environment, and ornamentation, although empirical studies remain scarce. Here, we studied the plumage traits of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) in southern Japan, where both winterings and migrants breed sympatrically. We further examined this relationship with multiple isotopes (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S), which provides insight into their moulting habitat. Among males, winterings and migrants differed in their morphological traits: wintering males had shorter wings, which suggests the high demand for flight apparatus in migratory birds. Moreover, wintering males had larger white tail spots and less colourful throat patches than migratory males, indicating ornament divergence between them. Wintering males had a significantly smaller isotopic space when examining the combinations of δ34S with the other isotopes compared to migratory males, which indicates a differential geographic range between them, perhaps because of the limited variation in the distance to the sea in wintering males. As in males, wintering females had a significantly smaller isotopic space than migrant females, but there were few morphological differences between migratory and wintering females. Instead, some morphological traits were related to isotope values in females. These results indicate sex-specific linkage among migration, local environment, and ornamentation.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1264-1277"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142156526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The fecundity costs of building domed nests in birds.","authors":"Claire J Taylor, Mark C Mainwaring, Iliana Medina","doi":"10.1093/jeb/voae117","DOIUrl":"10.1093/jeb/voae117","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Animal nests provide a beneficial environment for offspring development and as such, contribute to fitness. Gathering and transporting materials to construct nests is energetically costly, but the life history trade-offs associated with the types of nests built are largely unknown. Who contributes to building the nest could also mediate these trade-offs, as building a nest as a couple is expected to be less costly per individual than building alone. Using a comparative analysis of 227 songbird species globally, we found a fecundity cost associated with the type of nest a species builds. Species that build domed nests produce fewer broods per year than species building cups or platforms. Dome nesting species also have larger clutch sizes than open nesting species, but only when the nest is built by a couple and not when females build nests alone. This suggests that building domed nests represents a trade-off with investment in young, especially when females are solely responsible for nest building. More broadly, our results could explain macroevolutionary patterns, such as the recent finding that females, building on their own, more often build open cups rather than domed nests.</p>","PeriodicalId":50198,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Evolutionary Biology","volume":" ","pages":"1378-1385"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142331498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}