EVOLUTION (DEVELOPMENT)

The identification of the alpha taxonomy of an extinct species is the first step towards understanding its evolutionary history and relationships with other organisms. Alpha taxonomy refers to the initial classification of the specimen based on the analysis of the observable mor…

All living organisms have some form of innate immunity, which serves as the first line of defense against pathogen infection. Immune systems are under substantial selective pressure given that pathogens that can evade these defenses will be more evolutionarily successful; theref…

Inference of the evolutionary histories of species, commonly represented by a species tree, is complicated by the divergent evolutionary history of different parts of the genome. Different loci on the genome can have different histories from the underlying species tree (and each…

The discovery of small-bodied hominin fossils in 2004 on the island of Flores, Indonesia, unearthed a large debate within biological anthropology. This debate has exemplified that there are questions and research areas that biological anthropologists do not understand about isla…

The Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) is one of the most highly targeted sport fishes in the world. Anglers vie for the opportunity to catch Smallmouth Bass recreationally and competitively, spending billions of dollars every year on travel, equipment, and conservation perm…

Spiders are one of the most diverse clades of multicellular life on earth, and their success has been attributed to several key genomic features, such as weaving silk, deploying various forms of venom, and being able to metabolize many types of prey. We have created a database o…

Closely related taxa frequently exist in sympatry before the evolution of robust reproductive barriers, which can lead to substantial gene flow. Post-divergence gene flow can promote several disparate trajectories of divergence ranging from the collapse of the taxa to the streng…

Pair bonding, or long-term adult romantic relationship, was advantageous in ensuring offspring survival and adult protection in the evolutionary environment, thus humans have evolved with strong mating and pair bonding motivations (Belsky, 1999; Fraley, Brumbaugh & Marks, 2005; …

Cancers are composed of genetically distinct subpopulations of malignant cells. By sequencing DNA from cancer tissue samples, we can characterize the somatic mutations specific to each population and build clone trees describing the evolutionary relationships between these popul…

Termites are classified as eusocial, wood-feeding cockroaches nested within the superorder Dictyoptera, (cockroaches and mantises). Questions regarding the evolution of eusocial termites from a solitary ancestor remain difficult to answer; extinction at the base of the termite t…

Disease transmission is a product of mechanisms and interactions at multiple levels of biological organization, and a comprehensive understanding of these processes is essential to disease control. Malaria parasites, for example, can infect dozens of vector species and undergo c…

The ability of populations to adapt depends on a complex suite of traits including mutation and recombination rates and functional constraints on genes subject to selection. How much selection can act on these traits to promote adaptability remains an open question. This dissert…

Menopause is the halt of a woman’s endometrium menstrual cycle, which involves the loss of ovarian reproductive function. Homo sapiens are one of the only species that have evolved to possess this trait and explanations for this still remains unknown. Using online genomic databa…

Biologists have long sought to understand how ecological selective pressures drive evolutionary responses. Defining how morphology, life history, and abiotic conditions interact across deep time can reveal the selective pressures responsible for shaping various axes of biodivers…

Diversification is primarily a function of two processes—speciation and adaptation—that shape the history and trajectory of evolutionary lineages. These processes are often interdependent and are shaped by biotic and abiotic factors including existing and evolvable genetic varia…

Life has repeatedly evolved new functions throughout its history, allowing life to survive and diversify for 3.8 billion years. The evolution of a novel function frequently requires the evolution of a new gene that encodes for an enzyme with a new function. New enzymes often evo…

Psilocybin mushrooms may have played a role in the origin of humanity, and consciousness-expanding medicines may contribute to the future evolution of our species. Neuroscientists from Imperial College London recently discovered that psilocybin, found in over 200 species of mush…

Bobcats (Lynx rufus) are an ecologically and genetically diverse species with a large contiguous range throughout North America. The species not only has a wide array of phenotypic variation compared to other mammals, but shows marked adaptability across ecozones with differing …