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The past decade has been marked by a series of global crises, presenting an opportunity to reevaluate the relationship between science and politics. The biological sciences are instrumental in understanding natural phenomena and informing policy decisions. However, scholars argue that current scientific expertise often fails to account for entire populations and long-term impacts, hindering efforts to address issues such as biodiversity loss, global warming, and pandemics. This article explores the structural challenges of integrating an evolutionary perspective, historically opposed to functional determinants of health and disease, into current biological science practices. Using data on Swiss biology professors from 1957, 1980, and 2000, we examine the structural power dynamics that have led to the division between these competing epistemologies, and how this division has influenced resource allocation and career trajectories. Our analysis suggests that this cleavage presents a significant obstacle to achieving fruitful reconciliations, and that increased academicization and internationalization may benefit functional biologists at the expense of evolutionary biologists. While evolutionary biologists have gained symbolic recognition in recent years, this has not translated into valuable expertise in the political domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lions (Panthera leo) play a crucial ecological role in shaping and maintaining fragile ecosystems within Africa. Conservation efforts should focus on genetic variability within wild populations when considering reintroduction attempts. We studied two groups of lions from two conservation sites located in Zambia and Zimbabwe to determine their genetic make-up, information that is usually unknown to the sites. In this study, we analysed 17 specimens for cytb and seven microsatellite markers to ascertain family relationships and genetic diversity previously obtained by observational studies. We then produced a standardised haplogroup phylogeny using all available entire mitogenomes, as well as calculating a revised molecular clock. The modern lion lineage diverged ~151 kya and was divided into two subspecies, both containing three distinct haplogroups. We confirm that Panthera leo persica is not a subspecies, but rather a haplogroup of the northern P.l. leo that exited Africa at least ~31 kya. The progenitor to all lions existed ~1.2 Mya, possibly in SE Africa, and later exited Africa and split into the two cave lion lineages ~175 kya. Species demography is correlated to major climactic events. We now have a detailed phylogeny of lion evolution and an idea of their conservation status given the threat of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi biosynthesize diverse secondary metabolites, small organic bioactive molecules with key roles in fungal ecology. Fungal secondary metabolites are often encoded by physically clustered genes known as biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Fungi in the genus Penicillium produce a cadre of secondary metabolites, some of which are useful (e.g. the antibiotic penicillin and the cholesterol-lowering drug mevastatin) and others harmful (e.g. the mycotoxin patulin and the immunosuppressant gliotoxin) to human affairs. Fungal genomes often also encode resistance genes that confer protection against toxic secondary metabolites. Some Penicillium species, such as Penicillium decumbens , are known to produce gliotoxin, a secondary metabolite with known immunosuppressant activity. To investigate the evolutionary conservation of homologs of the gliotoxin BGC and of genes involved in gliotoxin resistance in Penicillium , we analyzed 35 Penicillium genomes from 23 species. Homologous, lesser fragmented gliotoxin BGCs were found in 12 genomes, mostly fragmented remnants of the gliotoxin BGC were found in 21 genomes, whereas the remaining 2 Penicillium genomes lacked the gliotoxin BGC altogether. In contrast, broad conservation of homologs of resistance genes that reside outside the BGC across Penicillium genomes was observed. Evolutionary rate analysis revealed that BGCs with higher numbers of genes evolve slower than BGCs with few genes, suggestive of constraint and potential functional significance or more recent decay. Gene tree–species tree reconciliation analyses suggested that the history of homologs in the gliotoxin BGC across the genus Penicillium likely involved multiple duplications, losses, and horizontal gene transfers. Our analyses suggest that genes encoded in BGCs can have complex evolutionary histories and be retained in genomes long after the loss of secondary metabolite biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous, unwilled subjective imagery and symbols (including dreams) often emerge in psychotherapy that can appear baffling and confound interpretation. Early psychoanalytic theories seemed to diverge as often as they agreed on the meaning of such content. Nevertheless, after reviewing key findings in the empirical science of spontaneous thought as well as insights gleaned from neuroscience and especially embodied cognition, it is now possible to construct a more coherent theory of interpretation that is clinically useful. Given that thought is so thoroughly embodied, it is possible to demonstrate that universalities in human physiology yield universalities in thought. Such universalities can then be demonstrated to form a kind of biologically directed universal "code" for understanding spontaneous symbolic expressions that emerge in psychotherapy. An example is given that illustrates how this can be applied to clinical encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walter Bock was committed to developing a framework for evolutionary biology. Bock repeatedly discussed how evolutionary explanations should be considered within the realm of Hempel's deductive-nomological model of scientific explanations. Explanation in evolution would then consist of functional and evolutionary explanations, and within the latter, an explanation can be of nomological-deductive and historical narrative explanations. Thus, a complete evolutionary explanation should include, first, a deductive functional analysis, and then proceed through nomological and historical evolutionary explanations. However, I will argue that his views on the deductive proprieties of functional analysis and the deductive-nomological parts of evolution fail because of the nature of evolution, which contains a historical element that the logic of deduction and Hempel's converting law model do not compass. Conversely, Bock's historical approach gives a critical consideration of the historical narrative element of evolutionary explanation, which is fundamental to the methodology of the historical nature of evolutionary theory. Herein, I will expand and discuss a modern view of evolutionary explanations of traits that includes the currentacknowledgement of the differences between experimental and the historical sciences, including the token and type event dichotomy, that mutually illuminate each other in order to give us a well confirmed and coherent hypothesis for evolutionary explanations. Within this framework, I will argue that the duality of evolutionary explanations is related to two components of character evolution: origin, with its evolutionary pathways along with the history, and maintenance, the function (mainly a current function) for the character being selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal condition is influenced by multiple variables that individuals experience at seasonal and local levels, and thus condition‐dependent sex allocation is likely also multifactorial. Here, we test the Trivers‐Willard Hypothesis (TWH) using a multivariable approach on a dataset of thoroughbred mare breeding records. There is no sex ratio variation when examined at univariable level, mirroring the usual approach to test condition‐dependent sex allocation. Conversely, the multivariate model shows multiple variables interact to influence the likelihood of producing a male. Mare and management variables that represent better body condition is associated with an increase in likelihood of a male offspring. The magnitude and direction of sex ratio skew correspond closely with predicted mare energy balance, consistent with TWH predictions. Our findings therefore support the TWH and show that, while sex allocation is multifactorial, maternal energy status emerges as the dominant driver. The additive and agonistic interactions of different variables demonstrate that a multifactorial approach should be a key consideration in sex allocation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classification and phylogenetic relationships within the Phaseoleae tribe (Leguminosae) have consistently posed challenges to botanists. This study addresses these taxonomic intricacies, with a specific focus on the Glycininae subtribe, by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the highly conserved plastome in Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth., a critical species within this subtribe. Through meticulous genomic sequencing, we identified a plastome size of 148,650 bp, composed of 128 genes, including 84 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Comparative genomic analysis across seven Glycininae species illuminated a universally conserved circular and quadripartite structure, with nine genes exhibiting notable nucleotide diversity, signifying a remarkable genomic variability. Phylogenetic reconstruction of 35 Phaseoleae species underscores the affinity of Amphicarpaea with Glycine, placing Apios as a sister lineage to all other Phaseoleae species, excluding Clitorinae and Diocleinae subtribes. Intriguingly, Apios, Butea, Erythrina, and Spatholobus, traditionally clumped together in the Erythrininae subtribe, display paraphyletic divergence, thereby contesting their taxonomic coherence. The pronounced structural differences in the quadripartite boundary genes among taxa with unresolved subtribal affiliations demand a reevaluation of Erythrininae's taxonomic classification, potentially refining the phylogenetic contours of the tribe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals has been considered Charles Darwin's forgotten masterpiece and is his only book on psychology. It is also the first ever systematic application of Darwinian theory to the expression of emotions and has been considered by some to be the foundational text of evolutionary psychology. This article explores some key concepts in the book and gives reasons why both psychiatry and psychology can benefit greatly from becoming better acquainted with this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Observationally, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have health benefits compared with saturated fatty acids (SFAs); randomized controlled trials suggest fewer benefits. We used uni- and multi-variable Mendelian randomization to assess the association of major fatty acids and their sub-species with ischaemic heart disease (IHD) overall and sex-specifically and with lifespan sex-specifically, given differing lifespan by sex. Methods We obtained strong (P  <5x10-8), independent (r2<0.001) genetic predictors of fatty acids from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in a random subset of 114 999 UK Biobank participants. We applied these genetic predictors to the Cardiogram IHD GWAS (cases = 60 801, controls = 123 504) and to the Finngen consortium GWAS (cases = 31 640, controls = 187 152) for replication and to the UK Biobank for sex-specific IHD and for lifespan based on parental attained age (fathers = 415 311, mothers = 412 937). We used sensitivity analysis and assessed sex differences where applicable. Results PUFAs were associated with IHD [odds ratio 1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05 to 1.44] and lifespan in men (-0.76 years, 95% CI -1.34 to -0.17) but not women (0.20, 95% CI -0.32 to 0.70). Findings were similar for omega-6 fatty acids and linoleic acid. Independent associations of SFAs, mono-unsaturated fatty acids or omega-3 fatty acids with IHD overall or lifespan in men and women were limited. Conclusions PUFAs, via specific subspecies, may contribute to disparities in lifespan by sex. Sex-specific dietary advice might be a start towards personalized public health and addressing inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way we measure entities can have significant downstream effects on the transformations we can employ and the analytical methods we can use without breaking the link between the measurement and the aspect of reality they represent. Despite its obvious importance in any quantitative science, measurement theory is currently underused in biological research, including paleobiology. Proper statistical analysis is invaluable for extracting knowledge from data, but statistical models are blind to measurement theoretical issues because they can be applied to any dataset that fulfills their assumptions regarding the distributional properties of the data. Enhanced awareness of how distinct types of measurements possess different properties can improve the quality of scientific inquiry and lead to more meaningful inferences about the empirical world, including the fossil record. Measurement theory, a branch of applied mathematics, offers guiding principles for extracting meaning from empirical observations and is applicable to any science involving measurements. Measurement theory is highly relevant in paleobiology because statistical approaches assuming ratio-scaled variables are commonly used on data belonging to nominal and ordinal scale types. We provide an informal introduction to representational measurement theory and argue for its importance in robust scientific inquiry. Although measurement theory is widely applicable in paleobiology research, we use the study of disparity to illustrate measurement theoretical challenges in the quantitative study of the fossil record. Respecting the inherent properties of different measurements enables meaningful inferences about evolutionary and ecological processes from paleontological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of sociovirology, which examines the social interactions and behaviors of viruses. It emphasizes the diverse interactions within viral populations and how these interactions shape viral evolution. The authors suggest using quasispecies theory and Hamilton's rule to study sociovirology. The text also discusses the use of a Q matrix to represent genetic relatedness and explores the possibility of deriving Hamilton's rule from this model. The commentary further discusses the connection between quasispecies models and classical models in the context of social evolution. The author provides a simplified analysis and highlights the potential of quasispecies replicator equations for modeling social interactions among viruses. The R script used for numerical simulations is available for reference. [Extracted from the article]

The disciplines of evolutionary biology and plant and animal breeding have been intertwined throughout their development, with responses to artificial selection yielding insights into the action of natural selection and evolutionary biology providing statistical and conceptual guidance for modern breeding. Here we offer an evolutionary perspective on a grand challenge of the 21st century: feeding humanity in the face of climate change. We first highlight promising strategies currently under way to adapt crops to current and future climate change. These include methods to match crop varieties with current and predicted environments and to optimize breeding goals, management practices, and crop microbiomes to enhance yield and sustainable production. We also describe the promise of crop wild relatives and recent technological innovations such as speed breeding, genomic selection, and genome editing for improving environmental resilience of existing crop varieties or for developing new crops. Next, we discuss how methods and theory from evolutionary biology can enhance these existing strategies and suggest novel approaches. We focus initially on methods for reconstructing the evolutionary history of crops and their pests and symbionts, because such historical information provides an overall framework for crop-improvement efforts. We then describe how evolutionary approaches can be used to detect and mitigate the accumulation of deleterious mutations in crop genomes, identify alleles and mutations that underlie adaptation (and maladaptation) to agricultural environments, mitigate evolutionary trade-offs, and improve critical proteins. Continuing feedback between the evolution and crop biology communities will ensure optimal design of strategies for adapting crops to climate change. Climate change is an increasing threat to agriculture worldwide, calling for innovative methods to develop resilient crops that can withstand changing and difficult environmental conditions. This review provides a broad overview of promising strategies for adapting crops to current and future climates and discusses how evolutionary biology-derived methods and theories can both improve such strategies and offer novel solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditions of living and evolved human social traits undermine human adaptations to genetic, personal, social, and physical environments. The objectives of this study were as follows: first, to identify the functionality of evolutionary impediments to human health, well-being, happiness, and survival, and second, to understand the role, potentials, rationale, methods, structures, and implementation of possible responses by social psychiatry. The author surveyed the background mission development of Hippocratic medicine to identify the ranges of responsibility historically available to social psychiatry research, training, and practice addressing the conditions of living left by evolution for Homo sapiens. Topics examined for relevance included a history of Hippocratic medicine, evolutionary biology, primatological studies of human social primates, medical sciences, and psychosocial sciences. The results achieved were: Blind processes of evolution, through natural selection, have left to H. sapiens numerous and wide-ranging specific impediments to effective adaptations to the environments essential to humans flourishing and surviving. Consequently, functioning solely to ensure the survival of live forms across generations, evolution has left individuals without rights and totally responsible for the consequences of how they live. It can be concluded that human evolutionary biology provides a required broad and informative grounding for social psychiatric research and the development of the understanding and interventions required to reverse the effects from evolved conditions and traits affecting human adaptations. Serendipitously, direct democracy may be the sole form of social governance able to functionally accommodate humans' dynamically unique individuality. Medicine's formulation as a social intervention by Rudolf Wirchov, where William Osler finds physicians learning the pragmatics of applying scientific knowledge, provides a millennia-long tradition addressing the parson's and population's best interests. This may prove an essential grounding for any effective interventions against human-evolved conditions and traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several scholars have hinted at a resemblance between Maximus the Confessor's logoi cosmology and evolutionary biology. In this article, I develop these suggestions further and claim that the logoi (divine ideas or wills) do indeed behave in an evolutionary fashion, diverging hierarchically and interactively from the Logos. However, there the similarity ends, for the logoi are also purposeful, inviolable, and good, unlike evolution which is said to be random, ever‐changing, and cruel. But rather than abandon the logoi–evolution congruity, I argue that, by harnessing theological resources from across the Eastern tradition, one can integrate Maximus' logoi vision more fully, resulting in an "incarnationally panentheistic" model of God's action and presence in evolution. More speculatively, within canonical Darwinism, the underlying (good) evolutionary motion of the logoi might be discernible in variation and adaptation, with the "evil" of competition and natural selection being "garments of skin" conceded by God as part of a simultaneous creation and cosmic fall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uric acid is the final product of purine metabolism and is converted to allantoin in most mammals via the uricase enzyme. The accumulation of loss of function mutations in the uricase gene rendered hominoids (apes and humans) to have higher urate concentrations compared to other mammals. The loss of human uricase activity may have allowed humans to survive environmental stressors, evolution bottlenecks, and life-threatening pathogens. While high urate levels may contribute to developing gout and cardiometabolic disorders such as hypertension and insulin resistance, low urate levels may increase the risk for neurodegenerative diseases. The double-edged sword effect of uric acid has resurrected a growing interest in urate's antioxidant role and the uricase enzyme's role in modulating the risk of obesity. Characterizing both the effect of uric acid levels and the uricase enzyme in different animal models may provide new insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of uric acid and novel uricase-based therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breastfeeding and weaning are actively studied from evolutionary, medical, and social research perspectives because of their close association with infant mortality, lifetime health, and human population dynamics. Each discipline benefits from an interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge regarding the bases, processes, and consequences of these phenomena. However, current social issues related to breastfeeding and weaning have received little attention from an evolutionary biology perspective. We address this gap by reviewing current social issues related to human breastfeeding and weaning in an evolutionary framework. This approach helps build a conceptual framework with the goal of better understanding ultimate causes of or influences on these current social issues. The six social issues reviewed here fall into three categories: the spatiotemporal constraints of breastfeeding, abuse of breast milk as valuable material, and mismatch in breastfeeding practices. Some of these issues have an evolutionary basis. We analyze the structure of these social issues and discuss their possible solutions in terms of extension of the trade‐off theory in evolutionary biology. Our discussion on the current social issues in breastfeeding and weaning highlights the effectiveness of an approach rooted in evolutionary theory and biological anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This descriptive, critical, and constructive review reveals that the structure and content of A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems (2022) by Joseph L. Graves Jr. resembles the structure and content of Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967) by Martin Luther King Jr. Accordingly, as advanced by Graves, and by his great predecessor – Ernest Everett Just, evolutionary biology is not incompatible with theology. And, as advanced by Anna Julia Cooper and others, black womanist theologians pioneered black theological appreciation for evolution and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) is a cold-adapted, largely sedentary, game bird with a Holarctic distribution. The species represents an important example of an organism likely to be affected by ongoing climatic shifts across a disparate range. We provide here a highquality reference genome and mitogenome for the Rock Ptarmigan assembled from PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing of a female bird from Iceland. The total size of the genome is 1.03 Gb with a scaffold N50 of 71.23 Mb and a contig N50 of 17.91 Mb. The final scaffolds represent all 40 predicted chromosomes, and the mitochondria with a BUSCO score of 98.6%. Gene annotation resulted in 16,078 protein-coding genes out of a total 19,831 predicted (81.08% excluding pseudogenes). The genome included 21.07% repeat sequences, and the average length of genes, exons, and introns were 33605, 394, and 4265 bp, respectively. The availability of a new referencequality genome will contribute to understanding the Rock Ptarmigan's unique evolutionary history, vulnerability to climate change, and demographic trajectories around the globe while serving as a benchmark for species in the family Phasianidae (order Galliformes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models the real-time adaptation of utility when individuals have a limited capacity to make fine distinctions. A simple adaptive mechanism is proposed that adapts utility to an arbitrary distribution of rewards in a way that is ultimately optimal, in terms of minimizing the probability of errors. A modified simple mechanism is approximately optimal in terms of maximizing expected utility. The model generates the so-called "hedonic treadmill" and induces a preference for rising consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogeographic history can set initial conditions for vegetation community assemblages that determine their climate responses at broad extents that land surface models attempt to forecast. Numerous studies have indicated that evolutionarily conserved biochemical, structural, and other functional attributes of plant species are captured in visible-to-short wavelength infrared, 400 to 2,500 nm, reflectance properties of vegetation. Here, we present a remotely sensed phylogenetic clustering and an evolutionary framework to accommodate spectra, distributions, and traits. Spectral properties evolutionarily conserved in plants provide the opportunity to spatially aggregate species into lineages (interpreted as "lineage functional types" or LFT) with improved classification accuracy. In this study, we use Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer data from the 2013 Hyperspectral Infrared Imager campaign over the southern Sierra Nevada, California flight box, to investigate the potential for incorporating evolutionary thinking into landcover classification. We link the airborne hyperspectral data with vegetation plot data from 1372 surveys and a phylogeny representing 1,572 species. Despite temporal and spatial differences in our training data, we classified plant lineages with moderate reliability (Kappa = 0.76) and overall classification accuracy of 80.9%. We present an assessment of classification error and detail study limitations to facilitate future LFT development. This work demonstrates that lineage-based methods may be a promising way to leverage the new-generation high-resolution and high return-interval hyperspectral data planned for the forthcoming satellite missions with sparsely sampled existing ground-based ecological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuhn (1962) proposed an evolutionary model to explain how scientific knowledge is built, based on the concept of paradigm. Even though Kuhn's model is general, it has been applied to only a few topics in evolutionary biology, almost exclusively to broad-based paradigms. We analyze here, through the lens of Kuhn's theory, a small-scale paradigm change that occurred with the resolution of the controversy about the mating system of a Mediterranean shrub Phillyrea angustifolia (Oleaceae). We first summarize the different steps of the paradigm change and replace them in the more general context of sex ratio theory. Second, we show how the different steps of the paradigm change can be interpreted by Kuhnian concepts and tools. Finally, we discuss the actual and future status of the new paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial lineages that populate the human gut microbiota contend with spatial and temporal fluctuations in numerous environmental variables, including bouts of extreme selective agents such as antibiotics. Oscillations in the adaptive landscape can impose balancing selection on populations, leaving characteristic signatures in the sequence variation of functionally significant genomic loci. Despite their potential importance for gut bacterial adaptation, the metagenomic targets of balancing selection have not been identified. Here, I present population genetic evidence that balancing selection maintains allelic diversity in multidrug efflux pumps of multiple predominant gut bacterial species. Metagenome‐wide scans of 566,958 genes from 287 bacterial species represented by 118,617 metagenome‐assembled genomes indicated that most genes have been conserved by purifying selection. However, dozens of core open reading frames (CORFs) displayed positive Tajima's D values that deviated significantly from their species' genomic backgrounds, indicating the action of balancing selection. Multidrug efflux pumps (MEPs) from a diversity of bacterial species were significantly enriched among the CORFs with Tajima's D values >3 in industrialized, but not nonindustrialized, human populations. The AcrB subunit of an MEP from Bacteroides dorei displayed the highest Tajima's D of any CORF. Divergent haplotypes of this CORF displayed evidence of positive selection and homology to an Escherichia coli AcrB subunit that binds tetracycline and macrolide antibiotics, suggesting functional significance and implicating medical antibiotics as an agent of selection acting on this locus. Other proteins identified as targets of balancing selection included peptidoglycan/LPS O‐acetylases and ion transporters. Intriguingly, the degree of balancing selection acting on gut bacterial species was associated with species abundance in the gut based on metagenomic data, further suggesting fitness benefits of the allelic variation identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the human context, the ubiquitous faculty of imagination is taken for granted. Whether we are singularly equipped with this ability or whether it is an evolved faculty also present in other life forms is a question that has been an issue ever since Darwin. A variety of research projects have indicated the presence of mental processes in non-human taxa and the faculty of imagination developed with increasing complexity over time, to its present status in humans. As an evolved faculty, encompassing a variety of non-humans, it serves as a useful tool to ascertain and understand the origins and unique quality of human mental processes, even to the extent of informing certain medical issues and problems in education. Several pointers exist that argue for human imagination as an evolved faculty that is shared within broad spectrum of taxa. Paleoanthropological research has provided insights as to the role of imagination in the early manifestations of religious behaviour in humans, the construction of effective stone tools by anatomically modern humans employing pyro technology, as well as their ability to mentally link ostensibly non-related natural phenomena like tidal fluctuations and the phases of the moon. Contribution: This review article explores imagination as an evolved faculty in an intersectional and interdisciplinary manner. This evolutionary reflection fits well with the purpose and inclusive nature of this special collection on the building blocks of our past, present and future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between decision theory and the theory of natural selection in evolutionary biology offers a fertile ground for philosophical inquiry. A topic that has recently been addressed in the philosophical literature is the connection between decision-theoretic and biological discussions of risk. The paper adds to this literature by drawing attention to a distinction between two different notions of risk originating in the economic literature and by exploring their relationship in a biological context. More specifically, the paper shows that the two notions of risk can part ways in models of risk-sensitive foraging theory. The paper also draws attention to an important difference in contemporary explanations of the apparent lack of empirical success of rational choice theory and risk-sensitive foraging theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungal taxonomy is a fundamental discipline that aims to recognise all fungi and their kinships. Approximately 5% of a practical estimate of 2.2–3.8 million species globally are currently known, and consequently the Fungal Tree of Life (FTOL) is very incompletely reconstructed. With the advances of new technologies, mycology is marching into the interdisciplinary and globalisation era. To make fungal taxonomy relevant, innovative sampling methods and phylogenomics analyses should be performed to reconstruct a much more comprehensive FTOL. In association with this densely sampled FTOL, multiomics will reveal what drives fungal species diversification and how fungal traits evolve to adapt to various environments, while metagenomics will facilitate the understanding and protection of the ecological functions of fungi. A coordinated approach to pursuing these research agendas that includes conceiving of and costing a mission to describe all the fungi on the planet will unlock potential of fungi to support sustainable development of our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent development of continuous paleoclimatic reconstructions covering hundreds of thousands of years paved the way for a large number of studies from disciplines ranging from paleoecology to archaeology, conservation to population genetics, macroevolution to anthropology and human evolution to linguistics. Unfortunately, (paleo)climatic data can be challenging to extract and analyze for scholars unfamiliar with such specific file formats. Here we present pastclim, an R package facilitating the access and use of paleoclimatic reconstructions. It currently includes two of such datasets, covering respectively the last 120 000 and 800 000 years, and a vignette provides instructions on how to include additional datasets. The package contains a set of functions to quickly and easily recover the climate for time periods of interest either for the whole world or specific areas, extract data from locations scattered in space and/or time, retrieve time series from individual sites, and manage the ice or land coverage, offering a handy platform to include the climate of the past into existing or new analyses and pipelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In a broad sense, genomic signature refers to characteristics associated to DNA sequences. Many studies analyze genotype–phenotype patterns in a group of genes, thus targeting genomic signatures associated to a given disease or identifying a gene expression profile. However, some studies in comparative genomics and evolutionary biology refer to genomic signature as the statistical properties of DNA sequences, such as the distribution of k-words. In these fields of study, genomic signatures are species-specific and can be informative about phylogenetic relationships. In this review, we identify the main genomic signatures in a large collection of articles by performing a bibliometric analysis and then rename each signature according to its conceptual meaning. Among the different signatures, we use the term organismal signature to denote the DNA patterns able to infer evolutionary relationships and go on to review its formulation and applications in the second part of the article. Organisms are unique physical entities in which information is stored and continuously processed. The digital nature of DNA sequences enables the construction of a dynamic information reservoir. However, the distinction between the hardware and software components in the information flow is crucial to identify the mechanisms generating specific genomic signatures. In this work, we perform a bibliometric analysis to identify the different purposes of looking for particular patterns in DNA sequences associated with a given phenotype. This study has enabled us to make a conceptual breakdown of the genomic signature and differentiate the leading applications. On the one hand, it refers to gene expression profiling associated with a biological function, which may be shared across taxa. This signature is the focus of study in precision medicine. On the other hand, it also refers to characteristic patterns in species-specific DNA sequences. This interpretation plays a key role in comparative genomics, identifying evolutionary relationships. Looking at the relevant studies in our bibliographic database, we highlight the main factors causing heterogeneities in genome composition and how they can be quantified. All these findings lead us to reformulate some questions relevant to evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the Evolutionary Applications Special Issue, "A decade of progress in Marine Evolutionary Biology." The globally connected ocean, from its pelagic depths to its highly varied coastlines, inspired Charles Darwin to develop the theory of evolution during the voyage of the Beagle. As technology has developed, there has been a dramatic increase in our knowledge about life on our blue planet. This Special Issue, composed of 19 original papers and seven reviews, represents a small contribution to the larger picture of recent research in evolutionary biology, and how such advancements come about through the connection of researchers, their fields, and their knowledge. The first European network for marine evolutionary biology, the Linnaeus Centre for Marine Evolutionary Biology (CeMEB), was developed to study evolutionary processes in the marine environment under global change. Though hosted by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the network quickly grew to encompass researchers throughout Europe and beyond. Today, more than a decade after its foundation, CeMEB's focus on the evolutionary consequences of global change is more relevant than ever, and knowledge gained from marine evolution research is urgently needed in management and conservation. This Special Issue, organized and developed through the CeMEB network, contains contributions from all over the world and provides a snapshot of the current state of the field, thus forming an important basis for future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of suffering, specifically that experienced by human beings, has been contentious in the discourses of biology and religion. The dilemma, especially in the Christian faith tradition has been to reconcile suffering with the idea of a benevolent deity in whose image humans are believed to have been created. Evolutionary biology, and specifically the field of cognitive psychology, contends that the experience of suffering may have more pragmatic origins, while not necessarily being to the benefit of the individual, may be a mechanism that favours the longevity of a species. This article explores the understanding of 'natural suffering' from the perspective of evolutionary biology and Christian faith convictions and proposes principles that can facilitate a mutually beneficial religion and science discourse. Contribution: This article investigates suffering in evolutionary biology and Christian theology respectively. Its interdisciplinary nature contributes towards the science and religion discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently discovered transcription‐independent features of p53 involve the choice of DNA damage repair pathway after PARylation, and p53's complex formation with phosphoinositide lipids, PI(4,5)P2. PARylation‐mediated rapid accumulation of p53 at DNA damage sites is linked to the recruitment of downstream repair factors and tumor suppression. This links p53's capability to sense damaged DNA in vitro and its relevant functions in cells. Further, PI(4,5)P2 rapidly accumulates at damage sites like p53 and complexes with p53, while it is required for ATR recruitment. These findings help explain how p53 and PI(4,5)P2 maintain genome stability by directing DNA repair pathway choice. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between p53 sequence homology, genome mutation rates as well as lifespans across various mammalian species. Further investigation is required to better understand the connections between genome stability, tumor suppression, longevity and the transcriptional‐independent function of p53. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, we showed that authentic peptide sequences could be obtained from 3.8-Ma-old ostrich eggshell (OES) from the site of Laetoli, Tanzania (Demarchi et al., 2016). Here, we show that the same sequences survive in a >6.5 Ma OES recovered from a palaeosteppe setting in northwestern China. The eggshell is thicker than those observed in extant species and consistent with the Liushu Struthio sp. ootaxon. These findings push the preservation of ancient proteins back to the Miocene and highlight their potential for paleontology, paleoecology, and evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of biological psychiatry to deliver on its promises of enlightening the origin of psychiatric disorders and optimizing their treatment is due to invalid theoretical postulates that derive from an outdated conceptualization of human biology. The crisis of biological psychiatry depends on its identification with functional biology. A major contribution of evolutionary biology (the other current of biological thought) is to integrate the study of environmental variables (developmental, interpersonal, and ecological) with those mechanisms that are the field of study of functional biology (genetics, anatomy, and physiology). A new theoretical framework based on the integration of functional and evolutionary explanations can revitalize the crippled field of biological psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human death is natural from the perspective of evolutionary biology but unnatural from the vantage point of classical Christian theology. The biblical notion that death entered the world as a result of sin seems hard to square with the view that (human) death has been an integral part of the natural order all along. I suggest an ecumenical solution to this conundrum by retrieving and elaborating the Augustinian modal distinction between strong and weak immortality. It is argued on exegetical and theological grounds that the human being can best be seen as being created in a state of posse mori et posse non mori, and that—when conceptual ambiguities in their writings are dissolved—this is what theologians as diverse as the prelates of the Council of Trent, John Calvin, Louis Berkhof, and Wolfhart Pannenberg had in mind. It is also argued that this solution is compatible with contemporary evolutionary science and can be accepted by creationists of various stripes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paternal genome elimination--a type of reproduction in which males inherit but fail to pass on their father's genome--evolved independently in 6-8 arthropod clades. Thousands of species, including several important for agriculture, reproduce via this mode of reproduction. While paternal genome elimination is well established in some of the clades, the evidence in globular springtails (Symphypleona) remains elusive, even though they represent the oldest and most species-rich clade putatively reproducing via paternal genome elimination. We sequenced genomic DNA from whole bodies of Allacma fusca males with high fractions (>27.5%) of sperm to conclusively confirm that all the sperm carry 1 parental haplotype only. Although it is suggestive that the single haplotype present in sperm is maternally inherited, definitive genetic proof of the parent of origin is still needed. The genomic approach we developed allows for the detection of genotypic differences between germline and soma in all species with sufficiently high fraction of germline in their bodies. This opens new opportunities for scans of reproductive modes in small organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Red-fingered Bright-eyed Frog Boophis erythrodactylus is an endemic, range-restricted arboreal frog found only in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar. We report new localities for this species, along with locality records for its sister species B. tasymena, including localities where they occur in sympatry, which has never been reported before. We also document evidence for the existence of a colour variant of B. tasymena that is identical to B. erythrodactylus in appearance. We also observed never before documented breeding behaviour in the poorly known B. erythrodactylus, where the male and female in amplexus used a submerged site in a river potentially for oviposition. We also explore why this may be a predator-avoidance strategy considering the presence of aquatic invertebrate predators active near the surface and absence of fully aquatic vertebrate predators, such as fish in headwater stream habitats. Predator-avoidance strategies are a vital component of organismal survival, particularly for amphibians with complex life cycles. Natural history observations are key to revealing such strategies and behaviour, and they form the basis of evolutionary biology and is also fundamental for conservation management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Findings: What is the topic of this review?Revisiting the 2013 article 'Physiology is rocking the foundations of evolutionary biology'.What advances does it highlight?The discovery that the genome is not isolated from the soma and the environment, and that there is no barrier preventing somatic characteristics being transmitted to the germline, means that Darwin's pangenetic ideas become relevant again. Charles Darwin spent the last decade of his life collaborating with physiologists in search of the biological processes of evolution. He viewed physiology as the way forward in answering fundamental questions about inheritance, acquired characteristics, and the mechanisms by which organisms could achieve their ends and survival. He collaborated with 19th century physiologists, notably John Burdon‐Sanderson and George Romanes, in his search for the mechanisms of transgenerational inheritance. The discovery that the genome is not isolated from the soma and the environment, and that there is no barrier preventing somatic characteristics being transmitted to the germline, means that Darwin's pangenetic ideas become relevant again. It is time for 21st century physiology to come to the rescue of evolutionary biology. This article outlines research lines by which this could be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that reflection on sexual selection can be theologically generative, and that it presents needed counteremphases to some of the discussions about theological anthropology that have been fueled by theological reflection on natural selection. It introduces sexual selection and provides an overview of different approaches to sexual selection found within evolutionary biology today, before transitioning to a reflection on one theologically relevant insight from sexual selection—namely, the importance of play. It argues that the mating and play behaviors of animals reveal the noncompetitive relationship between necessity and gratuity, and thus provide theologians with an example of grace building upon, and not destroying, nature. While play is sometimes depicted in philosophical and theological accounts as the achievement of culture that supersedes the mundane necessities of nature, sexual selection can also help to illuminate the ways in which culture is dependent upon nature, and play is a thoroughly natural phenomenon that provides resources for human cultural elaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Gobies form a group of small fish that are extremely adaptable to their environment. However, genomic resources for Gobiidae species are scarce. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to generate the whole genome data for the shimofuri goby (Tridentiger bifasciatus). In addition to providing basic genomic information, the mitochondrial whole genome, microsatellite markers, and single-copy homologous genes are also explored. The PSMC model is used to provide the historical population dynamics of the shimofuri goby. The results of this study provide a reference for the assembly of a complete genome map and biological research of the shimofuri goby. The shimofuri goby (Tridentiger bifasciatus) is a small and highly adaptable goby, distributed along the coasts of China, the Sea of Japan, and the west coastal and estuarine areas of the Northwest Pacific. Next-generation sequencing was used to generate genome-wide survey data to provide essential characterization of the shimofuri goby genome and for the further mining of genomic information. The genome size of the shimofuri goby was estimated to be approximately 887.60 Mb through K-mer analysis, with a heterozygosity ratio and repeat sequence ratio of 0.47% and 32.60%, respectively. The assembled genome was used to identify microsatellite motifs (Simple Sequence Repeats, SSRs), extract single-copy homologous genes and assemble the mitochondrial genome. A total of 288,730 SSRs were identified. The most frequent SSRs were dinucleotide repeats (with a frequency of 61.15%), followed by trinucleotide (29.87%), tetranucleotide (6.19%), pentanucleotide (1.13%), and hexanucleotide repeats (1.66%). The results of the phylogenetic analysis based on single-copy homologous genes showed that the shimofuri goby and Rhinogobius similis can be clustered into one branch. The shimofuri goby was originally thought to be the same as the chameleon goby (Tridentiger trigonocephalus) due to their close morphological resemblance. However, a complete mitochondrial genome was assembled and the results of the phylogenetic analysis support the inclusion of the shimofuri goby as a separate species. PSMC analysis indicated that the shimofuri goby experienced a bottleneck event during the Pleistocene Glacial Epoch, in which its population size decreased massively, and then it began to recover gradually after the Last Glacial Maximum. This study provides a reference for the further assembly of the complete genome map of the shimofuri goby, and is a valuable genomic resource for the study of its evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fleas are the most economically significant blood-feeding ectoparasites worldwide. Ctenocephalides felis and Pulex irritans can parasitize various animals closely related to humans and are of high veterinary significance. Methods: In this study, 82 samples were collected from 7 provinces of China. Through studying the nuclear genes ITS1 and EF-1α and two different mitochondrial genes cox1 and cox2, the population genetics and genetic variation of C. felis and P. irritans in China were further investigated. Results: The intraspecies differences between C. felis and P. irritans ranged from 0 to 3.9%. The interspecific variance in the EF-1α, cox1, and cox2 sequences was 8.2–18.3%, while the ITS1 sequence was 50.1–52.2%. High genetic diversity was observed in both C. felis and P. irritans, and the nucleotide diversity of cox1 was higher than that of cox2. Moderate gene flow was detected in the C. felis and P. irritans populations. Both species possessed many haplotypes, but the haplotype distribution was uneven. Fu's Fs and Tajima's D tests showed that C. felis and P. irritans experienced a bottleneck effect in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Henan province. Evolutionary analysis suggested that C. felis may have two geographical lineages in China, while no multiple lineages of P.irritans were found. Conclusions: Using sequence comparison and the construction of phylogenetic trees, we found a moderate amount of gene flow in the C. felis and P. irritans populations. Both species possessed many haplotypes, but the distribution of haplotypes varied among the provinces. Fu's Fs and Tajima's D tests indicated that both species had experienced a bottleneck effect in Guangxi and Henan provinces. Evolutionary analysis suggested that C. felis may have two geographical lineages in China, while no multiple lineages of P.irritans were found. This study will help better understand fleas' population genetics and evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems of oppression—racism, colonialism, misogyny, cissexism, ableism, heteronormativity, and more—have long shaped the content and practice of science. But opportunities to reckon with these influences are rarely found within academic science, even though such critiques are well developed in the social sciences and humanities. In this special section, we attempt to bring cross-disciplinary conversations among ecology, evolution, behavior, and genetics on the one hand and critical perspectives from the social sciences and humanities on the other into the pages—and in front of the readers—of a scientific journal. In this introduction to the special section, we recount and reflect on the process of running this cross-disciplinary experiment to confront harms done in the name of science and envision alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the concepts of "normal" reproductive development that biologists rely on are undergirded by heterosexism, ableism, and White supremacism, even if implicitly. We illustrate our argument by critically analyzing toxicology's use of reproductive fitness, focusing on the field of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Toxicology both informs and is informed by fundamental evolutionary and ecological questions as well as environmental health. Throughout, biologists overwhelmingly assume that "abnormal" reproductive physiologies both are generated by EDC exposure and necessarily threaten species survival. Such assumptions unwittingly obscure fundamental scientific insights while further discriminating against queer, trans, nonbinary, and differently abled human communities. We agree that scientists should be sounding the alarm over unavoidable, unevenly distributed, highly hazardous EDC exposures—which cause metabolic dysregulation, cancer, and death—but not because gonads and genitals look different. Instead, we encourage scientists to directly confront how chemical corporations profit from innumerable, irreversible harms to ecological and societal well-being, harms that may very well have nothing to do with gonads or genitals. We close with three specific suggestions to help scientists dismantle the human hierarchies embedded in biological frameworks, toward better science and environmental justice. By refusing the oppressive social ideologies assumed by prior research, toxicological and biological scientists will offer exciting new insights into evolutionary processes and urgent, justice-centered findings for environmental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary biology and many of its foundational concepts are grounded in a history of ableism and eugenics. The field has not made a concerted effort to divest our concepts and investigative tools from this fraught history, and as a result, an ableist investigative lens has persisted in present-day evolutionary research, limiting the scope of research and harming the ability to communicate and synthesize knowledge about evolutionary processes. This failure to divest from our eugenicist and ableist history has harmed progress in evolutionary biology and allowed principles from evolutionary biology to continue to be weaponized against marginalized communities in the modern day. To rectify this problem, scholars in evolutionary research must come to terms with how the history of the field has influenced their investigations and work to establish a new framework for defining and investigating concepts such as selection and fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past quarter-century, the field of evolutionary biology has been transformed by the emergence of complete genome sequences and the conceptual framework known as the 'Net of Life.' This paradigm shift challenges traditional notions of evolution as a tree-like process, emphasizing the complex, interconnected network of gene flow that may blur the boundaries between distinct lineages. In this context, gene loss, rather than horizontal gene transfer, is the primary driver of gene content, with vertical inheritance playing a principal role. The 'Net of Life' not only impacts our understanding of genome evolution but also has profound implications for classification systems, the rapid appearance of new traits, and the spread of diseases. Here, we explore the core tenets of the 'Net of Life' and its implications for genome-scale phylogenetic divergence, providing a comprehensive framework for further investigations in evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex allocation is defined as the allocation of resources to produce male and female offspring during reproduction, and it is an important topic in evolutionary biology. As organisms with special haplo‐diploid sex determination, parasitoid wasps are particularly suited for the study of sex allocation. However, most studies focused on the secondary sex ratio (i.e., the eclosion sex ratio) because the oviposition ratio (the primary sex ratio) is difficult to study, especially in parasitoid species. The primary sex ratio may differ from the secondary sex ratio due to larval mortality and self‐superparasitism. The present study used microsatellites to explore the effects of female age on the primary and secondary sex ratio (male proportion) of the solitary ectoparasitoid Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae (Rondani) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). The primary sex ratio showed a significant decreasing trend as the oviposition days increased, and the secondary sex ratio significantly increased. Self‐superparasitism, i.e., laying more than one egg in a host, was the cause of the variation in the secondary sex ratio in P. vindemmiae. When females practiced self‐superparasitism, they tended to lay female eggs. The application of microsatellites helped explore and improve the understanding of the primary sex ratio and self‐superparasitism in this ectoparasitoid species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical explanations in evolutionary biology are commonly characterized as narrative explanations. Examples include explanations of the evolution of particular traits and explanations of macroevolutionary transitions. In this paper I present two case studies of explanations in accounts of pathogen evolution and host-pathogen coevolution, respectively, and argue that one of them is captured well by established accounts of time-sequenced narrative explanation. The other one differs from narrative explanations in important respects, even though it shares some characteristics with them as it is also a population-level historical explanation. I thus argue that the second case represents a different kind of explanation that I call historical explanation of type phenomena. The main difference between the two kinds of explanation is the conceptualization of the explanandum phenomena as particulars or type phenomena, respectively. Narrative explanations explain particulars but also deal with generalization, regularities and type phenomena. Historical explanations of type phenomena, on the other hand, explain multiply realizable phenomena but also deal with particulars. The two kinds of explanation complement each other because they explain different aspects of evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to find and quantify the supposed low entropy of organisms and its preservation are revised. The absolute entropy of the mixed components of non-living biomass (approximately −1.6 × 103 J K−1 L−1) is the reference to which other entropy decreases would be ascribed to life. The compartmentation of metabolites and the departure from the equilibrium of metabolic reactions account for reductions in entropy of 1 and 40–50 J K−1 L−1, respectively, and, though small, are distinctive features of living tissues. DNA and proteins do not supply significant decreases in thermodynamic entropy, but their low informational entropy is relevant for life and its evolution. No other living feature contributes significantly to the low entropy associated with life. The photosynthetic conversion of radiant energy to biomass energy accounts for most entropy (2.8 × 105 J K−1 carbon kg−1) produced by living beings. The comparatively very low entropy produced in other processes (approximately 4.8 × 102 J K−1 L−1 day−1 in the human body) must be rapidly exported outside as heat to preserve low entropy decreases due to compartmentation and non-equilibrium metabolism. Enzymes and genes are described, whose control minimizes the rate of production of entropy and could explain selective pressures in biological evolution and the rapid proliferation of cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterfly eyespots are beautiful novel traits with an unknown developmental origin. Here we show that eyespots likely origi- nated via cooption of parts of an ancestral appendage gene- regulatory network (GRN) to novel locations on the wing. Using comparative transcriptome analysis, we show that eyespots clus- ter most closely with antennae, relative to multiple other tissues. Furthermore, three genes essential for eyespot development, Dis- tal-less (Dll), spalt (sal), and Antennapedia (Antp), share similar regulatory connections as those observed in the antennal GRN. CRISPR knockout of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) for Dll and sal led to the loss of eyespots, antennae, legs, and also wings, demon- strating that these CREs are highly pleiotropic. We conclude that eyespots likely reused an ancient GRN for their development, a network also previously implicated in the development of antennae, legs, and wings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mammalian immune system packs serious punch against infection but can also cause harm: for example, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) made headline news of the simultaneous power and peril of human immune responses. In principle, natural selection leads to exquisite adaptation and therefore cytokine responsiveness that optimally balances the benefits of defense against its costs (e.g., immunopathology suffered and resources expended). Here, we illustrate how evolutionary biology can predict such optima and also help to explain when/why individuals exhibit apparently maladaptive immunopathological responses. Ultimately, we argue that the evolutionary legacies of multicellularity and life-history strategy, in addition to our coevolution with symbionts and our demographic history, together explain human susceptibility to overzealous, pathology-inducing cytokine responses. Evolutionary insight thereby complements molecular/cellular mechanistic insights into immunopathology. Evolutionary biology offers a rigorous framework to investigate the ideal balance between protection and pathology (or 'Goldilocks optimum') that is often invoked in immunology. Mammalian cytokine responses are especially amenable to such optimality analysis. Evolutionary legacies of coevolution with parasites as well as multicellularity and life history arguably shape susceptibility to immunopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Editor of Evolution was Ernst Mayr. His foreword to the first issue of Evolution published in 1947 framed evolution as a "problem of interaction" that was just beginning to be studied in this broad context. First, I explore progress and prospects on understanding the subsidiary interactions identified by Mayr, including interactions between parts of organisms, between individuals and populations, between species, and between the organism and its abiotic environment. Mayr's overall "problem of interaction" framework is examined in the context of coevolution within and among levels of biological organization. This leads to a comparison in the relative roles of biotic versus abiotic agents of selection and fluctuating versus directional selection, followed by stabilizing selection in shaping the genomic architecture of adaptation. Oligogenic architectures may be typical for traits shaped more by fluctuating selection and biotic selection. Conversely, polygenic architectures may be typical for traits shaped more by directional followed by stabilizing selection and abiotic selection. The distribution of effect sizes and turnover dynamics of adaptive alleles in these scenarios deserves further study. Second, I review two case studies on the evolution of acquired toxicity in animals, one involving cardiac glycosides obtained from plants and one involving bacterial virulence factors horizontally transferred to animals. The approaches used in these studies and the results gained directly flow from Mayr's vision of an evolutionary biology that revolves around the "problem of interaction." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of sexual selection, it is common to encounter the idea of 'sex roles': choosy and caring females and competitive and promiscuous males. Despite criticism of these stereotypes from some evolutionary biologists, sex roles still appear as a norm in much of the sexual selection-related literature. This may be because scientists anthropomorphize animal behaviours, which raises the question of whether demographic traits and experiences can influence one's perception regarding sex differences in nature. Here we tested whether age, gender, country and experiences are associated with different perceptions of sex differences in nature. We conducted a survey in which we asked participants about their perception of the frequency at which certain behaviours associated with sex roles (promiscuity, mate choice, intrasexual competition and parental care) occur in nonhuman animals for each sex. We found that participants' country, research experience with certain taxonomic groups and research experience with sex-specific topics were associated with different perceptions of sex differences in nonhuman animals; participants from more gender-unequal countries showed greater agreement with the idea of sex roles. In contrast, participants who had experience with mechanisms not predicted by the idea of sex roles such as male mate choice, paternal care and female–female competition showed lower agreement with the idea of sex roles than other participants. We suggest that increasing social diversity in academia and encouraging researchers to diversify the sexes and taxa of animals they use to investigate reproductive behaviours could challenge pre-existing biases in animal sex differences. • The idea of sex roles represents a stereotypical view of females and males. • Researchers' perceptions of sex differences in nature are diverse. • Agreement with the idea of sex roles can depend on research experience. • Drawing broad conclusions based on current data can be misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]