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Related Concept Videos

The Evidence for Evolution02:55

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Genetic variations accumulating within populations over generations give rise to biological evolution. Evolutionary changes can result in the formation of novel varieties and entire new species. These changes are responsible for the diverse forms of life inhabiting the planet. The evidence for evolution suggests that all living organisms descended from common ancestors.
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Microbial evolution occurs rapidly due to short generation times and a variety of genetic processes, including horizontal gene transfer, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. These mechanisms collectively enable microbes to adapt swiftly to changing environments.Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) allows genes to move between different species and occurs through three main mechanisms: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves direct cell-to-cell contact for DNA...
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Microorganisms evolve rapidly due to their large population sizes and short generation times, often exhibiting measurable changes within days under laboratory conditions. Natural selection acts on standing genetic variation, enabling the retention and amplification of beneficial traits that confer fitness advantages in changing environments.Adaptive Pigment Regulation in RhodobacterIn Rhodobacter, a genus of purple non-sulfur bacteria, light-harvesting pigments such as bacteriochlorophyll and...
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Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
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Evolution shapes the features of organisms over time, ensuring that they are suited for the environments in which they live. Sometimes, selection pressure leads to the rise of similar but unrelated adaptations in organisms with no recent common ancestors, a process known as convergent evolution.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
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Unifying ecology and macroevolution with individual-based theory.

James Rosindell1, Luke J Harmon, Rampal S Etienne

  • 1Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK.

Ecology Letters
|March 31, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Integrating mild selection into neutral theory of biodiversity explains common species and predicts fitter species in larger communities. This new individual-based model bridges ecology and evolutionary biology.

Keywords:
Ecologyfitnessindividual-based modellineages-through-timemacroevolutionneutralphylogenyselectionspecies abundancetheory

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Macroevolutionary Theory

Background:

  • Bridging ecology and evolutionary biology requires integrating organism-level ecological processes with lineage-based macroevolutionary models.
  • Existing neutral theory of biodiversity, while influential, struggles to explain the prevalence of very common species and lacks individual-based mechanisms.
  • Macroevolutionary models typically focus on lineages, while ecological models often center on individual organisms, creating a theoretical divide.

Discussion:

  • This study introduces a novel parsimonious individual-based theory by incorporating mild selection into the neutral theory of biodiversity.
  • The model successfully generates realistic phylogenies exhibiting a slowdown in diversification.
  • It enhances ecological predictions by accounting for the existence of very common species, a limitation of previous neutral models.

Key Insights:

  • The developed model demonstrates that mild selection, when added to neutral theory, can explain the distribution of common species.
  • It reveals a pattern of increasing average fitness over time, directly influenced by community size.
  • Larger ecological communities are predicted to foster the evolution of fitter species compared to smaller ones.

Outlook:

  • The findings offer a unified framework with broad implications for understanding biodiversity dynamics.
  • This theoretical advancement could refine models in invasion biology, aiding in predicting species establishment.
  • Applications extend to paleontology, providing new perspectives on macroevolutionary patterns and extinction events.