scholarly journals The role of sexual and natural selection in shaping patterns of sexual dichromatism in the largest family of songbirds (Aves: Thraupidae)

Evolution ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 1061-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison J. Shultz ◽  
Kevin J. Burns
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Sexual Dichromatism

scholarly journals The evolution of sexual dichromatism in a large radiation of landfowls: re-examining the female-biased selection in Wallace's model

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Li ◽  
De Chen ◽  
Lu Dong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Sexual Dichromatism ◽  
Colour Difference ◽  
Evolutionary Forces ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Relationship

Sexual dichromatism, the colour difference between males and females, has been particularly important for studying the interplay between sexual and natural selection. However, previous studies on the evolutionary forces of sexual dichromatism examing the Darwin's and Wallace's model have produced mixed results. Phasianidae is a species-rich family with worldwide distribution, occupancy in nearly all terrestrial habitats, and a wide diversity of plumage patterns and colourations. Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to test the relationship between sexual dichromatism and colour complexity of males and females on both evolutionary direction and tempo including all species in Phasianidae. We show that the evolutionary direction of sexual dichromatism is negatively correlated with colour complexity in females but not males, and the evolutionary rates of sexual dichromatism are positively correlated with the evolutionary rates of colour complexity in both sexes. These results highlight the important role of female colour evolution in shaping sexual dichromatism in the pheasant family, and provide strong empirical supports for Wallace's hypothesis via a mosaic of sexual and natural selection in both sexes.

Randomness and Complexity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Vigdor
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Variable Theory ◽  
Cosmological Natural Selection ◽  
Einstein Podolsky Rosen ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Rna World Hypothesis

Chapter 7 describes the fundamental role of randomness in quantum mechanics, in generating the first biomolecules, and in biological evolution. Experiments testing the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox have demonstrated, via Bell’s inequalities, that no local hidden variable theory can provide a viable alternative to quantum mechanics, with its fundamental randomness built in. Randomness presumably plays an equally important role in the chemical assembly of a wide array of polymer molecules to be sampled for their ability to store genetic information and self-replicate, fueling the sort of abiogenesis assumed in the RNA world hypothesis of life’s beginnings. Evidence for random mutations in biological evolution, microevolution of both bacteria and antibodies and macroevolution of the species, is briefly reviewed. The importance of natural selection in guiding the adaptation of species to changing environments is emphasized. A speculative role of cosmological natural selection for black-hole fecundity in the evolution of universes is discussed.

scholarly journals The role of historical factors and natural selection in the evolution of breeding systems of Oxalis alpina in the Sonoran desert ‘Sky Islands’

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2163-2175 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. PÉREZ-ALQUICIRA ◽  
F. E. MOLINA-FREANER ◽  
D. PIÑERO ◽  
S. G. WELLER ◽  
E. MARTÍNEZ-MEYER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Sonoran Desert ◽  
Breeding Systems ◽  
Sky Islands ◽  
Historical Factors

Role of mutational bias and natural selection on genome-wide nucleotide bias in prokaryotic organisms

Biosystems ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Banerjee ◽  
S.K. Gupta ◽  
T.C. Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Mutational Bias ◽  
Nucleotide Bias ◽  
Genome Wide

Pregnancy as a Factor of Adaptive Human Evolution. The Role of Natural Selection in the Origin of Preeclampsia

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
V. N. Serebrova ◽  
E. A. Trifonova ◽  
V. A. Stepanov
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution

scholarly journals Increasing variability of body mass and health correlates in Swiss conscripts, a possible role of relaxed natural selection?

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaspar Staub ◽  
Maciej Henneberg ◽  
Francesco M Galassi ◽  
Patrick Eppenberger ◽  
Martin Haeusler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Body Mass

scholarly journals Evolution of gene regulatory networks by means of selection and random genetic drift

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Kioukis ◽  
Pavlos Pavlidis
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Positive Selection ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Fitness Landscape ◽  
Random Genetic Drift ◽  
Maturation Period ◽  
Evolutionary Forces ◽  
Gene Regulatory

The evolution of a population by means of genetic drift and natural selection operating on a gene regulatory network (GRN) of an individual has not been scrutinized in depth. Thus, the relative importance of various evolutionary forces and processes on shaping genetic variability in GRNs is understudied. Furthermore, it is not known if existing tools that identify recent and strong positive selection from genomic sequences, in simple models of evolution, can detect recent positive selection when it operates on GRNs. Here, we propose a simulation framework, called EvoNET, that simulates forward-in-time the evolution of GRNs in a population. Since the population size is finite, random genetic drift is explicitly applied. The fitness of a mutation is not constant, but we evaluate the fitness of each individual by measuring its genetic distance from an optimal genotype. Mutations and recombination may take place from generation to generation, modifying the genotypic composition of the population. Each individual goes through a maturation period, where its GRN reaches equilibrium. At the next step, individuals compete to produce the next generation. As time progresses, the beneficial genotypes push the population higher in the fitness landscape. We examine properties of the GRN evolution such as robustness against the deleterious effect of mutations and the role of genetic drift. We confirm classical results from Andreas Wagner’s work that GRNs show robustness against mutations and we provide new results regarding the interplay between random genetic drift and natural selection.

Adaptation

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Cronk ◽  
Beth L. Leech
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Levels Of Explanation ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Culture And Language ◽  
Evolutionary Explanations

This chapter examines the concept of adaptation and how it is applied (and sometimes misapplied) to cooperation. It starts with George C. Williams's idea that adaptation is a “special and onerous concept that should be used only where it is really necessary,” which he articulated in Adaptation and Natural Selection. It then considers different levels of explanation that help clarify the notion of adaptation, fortuitous benefits and by-product mutualism in relation to adaptation, and the link between adaptation and natural, artificial, social, and sexual selection. It also explores how phylogeny constrains natural selection, the ways that adaptations solve specific problems found in specific environments, and how adaptation influences judgment. Finally, it analyzes the role of culture and language in adaptation and evolutionary explanations of morality.

The Perennial Riddle of Life’s Origin

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-96
Author(s):  
Franklin M. Harold
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Electron Transport ◽  
Atp Synthase ◽  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Dynamic Network ◽  
Electron Transport Chains ◽  
The Origin Of Life

The origin of life is the most consequential problem in biology, possibly in all of science, and it remains unsolved. This chapter summarizes what has been learned and highlights questions that remain open, including How, Where, When, and especially Why. LUCA, some four billion years ago, already featured the basic capacities of contemporary cells. These must have evolved still earlier, at a nebulous proto-cellular stage. There is good reason to believe that enzymes, DNA, ribosomes, electron-transport chains, and the rotary ATP synthase all predate LUCA and were shaped by the standard process of variation and natural selection, but we know next to nothing about how cells ever got started. I favor the proposal that it began with a purely chemical dynamic network capable of reproducing itself, that may have originated by chance. Natural selection would have favored the incorporation of any ancillary factors that promoted its kinetic stability, especially ones that improved reproduction or gave access to energy. All the specifics are in dispute, including the role of a prebiotic broth of organic chemicals, the nature and origin of enclosure, the RNA world, and a venue in submarine hydrothermal vents. My sense is that critical pieces of the puzzle remain to be discovered.

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