The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
In many hermaphroditic flowering plants, self‐fertilization is prevented by self‐incompatibility (SI), often controlled by a single locus, the S‐locus. In single isolated populations, the maintenance of SI depends chiefly on inbreeding depression and the number of SI alleles at the S‐locus. In subdivided populations, however, population subdivision has complicated effects on both the number of SI...
Empirical evidence from several animal groups suggests sex chromosomes disproportionately contribute to reproductive isolation. This effect may be enhanced when sex chromosomes are associated with turnover of sex determination systems resulting from structural rearrangements to the chromosomes. We investigated these predictions in the dioecious plant Rumex hastatulus, which is composed of populations...
Phylogenetic comparative methods use tree topology, branch lengths, and models of phenotypic change to take into account nonindependence in statistical analysis. However, these methods normally assume that trees and models are known without error. Approaches relying on evolutionary regimes also assume specific distributions of character states across a tree, which often result from ancestral state...
Unisexual vertebrates (i.e., those produced through clonal or hemiclonal reproduction) are typically incapable of purging deleterious mutations, and, as a result, are considered short‐lived in evolutionary terms. In hemiclonal reproduction (hybridogenesis), one parental genome is eliminated during oogenesis, producing haploid eggs containing the genome of a single parent. Hemiclonal hybrids are usually...
Herbivores that have recently expanded their host plant ranges provide opportunities to test hypotheses about the evolution of host plant specialization. Here, we take advantage of the contemporary global range expansion of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and conduct a reciprocal rearing experiment involving monarch populations with divergent host plant assemblages. Specifically, we ask the...
Interactions between plant community members are an underexplored driver of angiosperm floral variation. We investigate character displacement as a potential contributor to floral variation in Pelargonium communities. Pelargoniums all place pollen on the ventral sides of their pollinators, potentially leading to interspecific pollen transfer (IPT) in sympatry. We show that the positions of pollen...
A fundamental aim of post‐genomic 21st century biology is to understand the genotype–phenotype map (GPM) or how specific genetic variation relates to specific phenotypic variation. Quantitative genetics approximates such maps using linear models, and has developed methods to predict the response to selection in a population. The other major field of research concerned with the GPM, developmental evolutionary...
Cleaning symbioses are mutualistic relationships where cleaners remove and consume ectoparasites from their clients. Cleaning behavior is rare in fishes and is a highly specialized feeding strategy only observed in around 200 species. Cleaner fishes vary in their degree of specialization, ranging from species that clean as juveniles or facultatively as adults, to nearly obligate or dedicated cleaners...
Understanding the mechanisms of adaptive population differentiation requires that both the functional and adaptive significance of divergent traits are characterized in contrasting environments. Here, we (a) determined the effects of floral spur length on pollen removal and receipt using plants with artificial spurs representing the species‐wide variation in length, and (b) quantified pollinator‐mediated...
Biome shifts are thought to be relatively rare, but some clades shift among starkly different environments with relative ease. What causes these shifts, and how do they shape phenotypic evolution? Roycroft et al. found that biome shifts in the Pseudomys Division of murid rodents were repeatedly accompanied by body size evolution in accordance with Bergmann's rule, suggesting adaptive evolution in...
Why are female birds ornamented? In a comparative phylogenetic study of hummingbirds (Trochilidae), Clark and Rankin tackled this crucial question and investigated how male tail evolution is reflected in female morphology.
Why do females of socially monogamous species engage in extra‐pair copulations? This long‐standing question remains a puzzle, because the benefits of female promiscuous behavior often do not seem to outweigh the costs. Genetic constraint models offer an answer by proposing that female promiscuity emerges through selection favoring alleles that are either beneficial for male reproductive success (intersexual...
Ecological specialization is a central driver of adaptive evolution. However, selective pressures may uniquely affect different ecomorphological traits (e.g., size and shape), complicating efforts to investigate the role of ecology in generating phenotypic diversity. Comparative studies can help remedy this issue by identifying specific relationships between ecologies and morphologies, thus elucidating...
Adaptive explanations for the evolution of extra‐pair paternity (EPP) suggest that females seek extra‐pair copulations with high quality males. Still, the link between ornamentation, individual quality, and paternity remains unclear. Moreover, honest signaling is essential when explaining EPP because it is needed for sexual selection to occur; yet, it is understudied in multiple ornaments. Because...
Abiotic stress is a major force of selection that organisms are constantly facing. While the evolutionary effects of various stressors have been broadly studied, it is only more recently that the relevance of interactions between evolution and underlying ecological conditions, that is, eco‐evolutionary feedbacks, have been highlighted. Here, we experimentally investigated how populations adapt to...
Closely related species that occur across steep environmental gradients often display clear body size differences, and examining this pattern is crucial to understanding how environmental variation shapes diversity. Australian endemic rodents in the Pseudomys Division (Muridae: Murinae) have repeatedly colonized the arid, monsoon, and mesic biomes over the last 5 million years. Using occurrence records,...
Ecological specialization is an important engine of evolutionary change and adaptive radiation, but empirical evidence of local adaptation in marine environments is rare, a pattern that has been attributed to the high dispersal ability of marine taxa and limited geographic barriers to gene flow. The broad‐nosed pipefish, Syngnathus typhle, is one of the most broadly distributed syngnathid species...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.