evolution – Open Access Biology Summaries

Monkey business: how pinworms shape genetic diversity in howler monkeys

ft. Inconsistent Capitalisation From: “Co-structure analysis and genetic associations reveal insights into pinworms (Trypanoxyuris) and primates (Alouatta palliata) microevolutionary dynamics”, B. Solórzano-García, E. Vázquez-Domínguez, G. Pérez-Ponce de León & D. Piñero, BMC Ecology and Evolution 21:190 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01924-4 One of the most important drivers of evolutionary change is parasitism. Parasitic organisms are by definition detrimental …

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Shell Games: How different Hermit Crabs coexist

From: “Shell resource partitioning as a mechanism of coexistence in two co-occurring terrestrial hermit crab species”, S. Steibl & C. Laforsch (2020), BMC Ecology 20:1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-019-0268-2 A fairly fundamental concept in ecology and evolutionary ecology is the competitive exclusion principle – that complete competitors cannot coexist. That is, a situation in which two species which …

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Why are men taller than women?

From: “Expanding the evolutionary explanations for sex differences in the human skeleton”, H.M. Dunsworth (2020), Evolutionary Anthropology 2020 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21834 All across the world, whatever the average height is in the city or town or country, men tend to be a little taller than women. The traditional explanation for this, repeated to the point of …

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Mouse Microbiome Mutations: how mutant E. coli speed up evolution

From “Low mutational load and high mutation rate variation in gut commensal bacteria”, R.S Ramiro, P. Durão, C. Bank, I. Gordo (2020), PLoS Biology 18:3 e3000617 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000617 In recent years, biology has come to understand that the bacteria and microorganisms living inside animal guts are hugely influential in the functioning of the animal, affecting processes …

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The evolutionary reasons why lorikeet parrots have green backs and colourful faces

From: “Macroevolutionary bursts and constraints generate a rainbow in a clade of tropical birds”, J.T. Merwin, G.F. Seeholzer and B.T. Smith (2020), BMC Evolutionary Biology 20:32 Animal colouration is one of the most interesting phenomena in evolutionary biology, since it varies so much between different animals and is influenced by such a wide variety of …

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How did malaria get to the Americas?

From: “Plasmodium vivax Malaria Viewed through the Lens of an Eradicated European Strain”, L. van Dorp, P. Gelabert, A. Riuex, M. de Manuel, T. de-Dios, S. Gopalakrishnan, C. Carøe, M. Sandoval-Velasco, R. Fregel, I. Olalde et al (2019), Molecular Biology and Evolution msz264 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz264 Malaria is, worldwide, a huge danger to human life. It is …

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The genes that allow a parasitic worm to infect both rats and snails

From: “The genetic basis of adaptive evolution in parasitic environment from the Angiostrongylus cantonensis genome”, Xu L., Xu M. Xi S., Junyang X., Xin Z., Dai S., Dongjuan Y., Ping H., Weiming H., Yulan Y., Shiqi L., Xiaoying W., Zhongao W. et al (2019), PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13:11 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007846 Parasites are, when you think …

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Seeing red: why do all these beetles look like each other?

From: “Persistence of multiple patterns and intraspecific polymorphism in multi-species Müllerian communities of net-winged beetles”, M. Bocek, D. Kusy, M. Motyka and L. Bocak (2019). Frontiers in Zoology 16:38 https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-019-0335-8 We’ve all seen warning colouration – the stripes on bees and wasps, the bright hues of snakes and the colourful spots of tropical frogs all …

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The eyes have it: the weird and wonderful evolution of eyes in a mollusc

From: “Remnants of ancestral larval eyes in an eyeless mollusk? Molecular characterization of photoreceptors in the scaphopod Antalis entails”, T. Wollesen, C. McDougall and D. Arendt (2019), EvoDevo 10:25 https://evodevojournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13227-019-0140-7 The evolution of eyes in molluscs is a particularly complex and interesting puzzle in evolutionary biology. No other group has the sheer variety of different …

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Evolving from harmless filter-feeder to venomous predator: the strange history of the Viper Copepods

From: “Evolutionary transformation of mouthparts from particle-feeding to piercing carnivory in Viper copepods: Review and 3D analyses of a key innovation using advanced imaging techniques”, T. Kaji, C. Song, K. Murata, S. Nonaka, K. Ogawa, Y. Kondo, S. Ohtsuka and A.R. Palmer (2019), Frontiers in Zoology 16:35 https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-019-0308-y Evolution is generally thought to be a …

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