It has been proposed that capacity to generate variation can evolve by natural selection such that mutation becomes biased toward adaptive outcomes. However the idea that selection might drive the evolution of evolvability has remained largely theoretical. Here we detail the de novo evolution of evolvability in experimental populations of bacteria,...

At a time when seasonal cycles are increasingly disrupted, the ecology and evolution of reproductive seasonality in tropical vertebrates remains poorly understood. In order to predict how changes in seasonality might affect these animals, it is important to understand which aspects of their diverse patterns of reproductive phenology are linked to either...

Identifying the environmental factors associated with group living is important for understanding how social systems originate, persist and diversify. In endothermic birds and mammals, living in social groups is associated with habitat constraints and harsh climatic conditions. We use phylogenetic comparative analyses to test whether climate and habitat...

In the early history, the Earth rotation was much faster; however, how ancient organisms adapted to the day-night cycles of that time remains unclear. We resurrected the ancestor KaiABC (anKaiABC) genes circa 0.95 billion years (Ga) ago when the daily-night cycling period was ~ 18 h. Compared with its contemporary counterpart KaiC, the anKaiC protein...

Highly plastic general-purpose genotypes are a frequent occurrence among invasive plants. Yet, it remains uncertain to what extent genetic adaptation can co-occur with such elevated levels of plasticity. Understanding the interplay between these two evolutionary strategies is essential to better predict invasive success and future climate change responses....

Secondary contact between incompletely isolated species can produce a wide variety of outcomes, including production of new species and adaptive radiations. The vinegar flies Drosophila simulans and D. sechellia diverged on islands in the Indian Ocean and are currently separated by partial pre- and postzygotic barriers. The recent discovery of hybridization...