Crocodylians are iconic thermophiles. Over 250 million years, crocodile-line archosaurs endured hyperthermals, climatic and range shifts, and two mass extinctions. Whether this niche conservatism refl...

1. Introduction The Modern Synthetic Theory of Evolution is one of the most comprehensive scientific explanations of evolutionary change in living organisms. It combines Charles Darwin's principle of natural selection with Mendelian genetics, population genetics, cytology, palaeontology and other branches of biological science. The Modern Synthetic Theory of Evolution explains how genetic variations arise, how they are inherited and how evolutionary processes influence the genetic composition of populations over successive generations.

Scientific Reports - Evolutionary history and climate-driven dynamics of transposable elements has shaped genome evolution in the Coffea genus

Evolutionary biologists use the term macroevolution to refer to the processes that lead to differences among species and higher taxonomic groups in contrast to microevolution that refers to evolution that occurs within a species1,2,3. One of this field’s most enduring observations is that morphological change over evolutionary timescales—as witnessed in the fossil record and phylogenetic datasets—is often characterised by long periods of stasis during which little or no change occurs, but interspersed with shorter bouts of abrupt, episodic or punctuational change1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. Empirical studies in large datasets13,14 and theoretical treatments13,14,15,16 of these phenomena point to macroevolution typically being bounded on short timescales—on the order of 1 million years or less—followed by divergence among lineages on longer timescales. Models attribute the bounded phase to species undergoing stabilising selection to perpetually moving but local adaptive optima. Over longer timescales, divergence is driven by a succession of rare but substantial shifts in adaptive optima, possibly corresponding to species entering new adaptive zones as Simpson envisaged3 in the 1940s. These observations and models focus attention on the magnitudes and frequencies of the episodes of abrupt change as measures for understanding the dynamic landscapes to which species adapt over macroevolutionary time, and how species diverge phenotypically...

Evolutionary biologists use the term macroevolution to refer to the processes that lead to differences among species and higher taxonomic groups in contrast to microevolution that refers to evolution that occurs within a species1,2,3. One of this field’s most enduring observations is that morphological change over evolutionary timescales—as witnessed in the fossil record and phylogenetic datasets—is often characterised by long periods of stasis during which little or no change occurs, but interspersed with shorter bouts of abrupt, episodic or punctuational change1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. Empirical studies in large datasets13,14 and theoretical treatments13,14,15,16 of these phenomena point to macroevolution typically being bounded on short timescales—on the order of 1 million years or less—followed by divergence among lineages on longer timescales. Models attribute the bounded phase to species undergoing stabilising selection to perpetually moving but local adaptive optima. Over longer timescales, divergence is driven by a succession of rare but substantial shifts in adaptive optima, possibly corresponding to species entering new adaptive zones as Simpson envisaged3 in the 1940s. These observations and models focus attention on the magnitudes and frequencies of the episodes of abrupt change as measures for understanding the dynamic landscapes to which species adapt over macroevolutionary time, and how species diverge phenotypically...

YouTube video by Lapworth Museum of Geology

Pangenomes and graph genomes reveal structural and haplotypic variation, but do not explain why lineages share genomic features. A conservative evidence ladder evaluates conflict against incomplete l...

PDF | Testing models of macroevolution, and especially the sufficiency of microevolutionary processes, requires good collaboration between molecular... | Find, read and cite all the research you need ...

Crocodylians are iconic thermophiles. Over 250 million years, crocodile-line archosaurs endured hyperthermals, climatic and range shifts, and two mass extinctions. Whether this niche conservatism refl...