Pleiotropy allows the evolutionary maintenance of positive niche construction in the face of free-riders
…For example, free-riding could come at the cost of reduced resource adaptation. Alternatively, the costly activity of niche construction could come with the additional benefit of greater adaptation to the…
read moreDevelopmental bias: An interview with Wallace Arthur
…Developmental Approach. Katrina Falkenberg is the science communication and outreach officer for the EES research program. She interviewed Wallace about developmental bias and its role in evolution. Katrina:…
read moreGoodbye to Katrina
…who left on May 10 2019 to pursue a science communications career in Melbourne, Australia. Katrina was employed as the media and communications officer for the EES research grant…
read moreDoes Inheritance Need a Rethink? Conceptual Tools to Extend Inheritance beyond the DNA
Inheritance is an essential component of evolutionary processes. Without inheritance, evolution by natural selection cannot lead to the accumulation of complex, adaptive traits. But what can be inherited, and how?…
read moreProf Graeme Ruxton
…based in terms of approaches. Although their primary means of investigation is computer and mathematical modelling, they are likely to complement this with field observations, designed experiments and comparative approaches….
read moreDevelopmental niche construction in dung beetles
…of her own feces. It constitutes the sole amount of food larvae have available to complete their development, and the maternal pedestal serves as source of maternal microbiota that we…
read moreProf Per Lundberg
Per Lundberg, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at Lund University, Sweden, studies the evolutionary ecology of natural communities. The interplay between current ecological processes, such as species sorting and community assembly,…
read moreBehavioral and developmental plasticity enable dung beetles to cope with temperature stress within and across generations
…thermal stress less frequently, lessening selection for compensatory mechanisms during early development. At the same time, in Western Australia, where beetles experience higher competition due to crowding, females have been…
read moreStructural inheritance: The parent as a developmental template
…because all cells come from pre-existing cells (all the way back to the origin of life), and cell components cannot spontaneously assemble themselves to form a new cell. For some…
read moreThe evolution of anti-teaching
…range from simple information (the location of a particularly good food source, for example) to more complex hunting skills. Individuals can alter the rate at which unskilled individuals learn through…
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