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evolletters.bsky.social
Evolution Letters
@evolletters.bsky.social
3.7K followers 43 following 93 posts
OA journal publishing the best work in evolutionary biology. Jointly owned by ESEB & SSE, published by Oxford University Press.

Journal website: https://academic.oup.com/evlett
Blog website: https://evolutionletters.net/

Mastodon: @EvolLetters@ecoevo.so
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evolletters.bsky.social
Infrared thermography is a useful tool in research on thermoregulation and evolution of heat tolerance
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Erik I Svensson et al.
Graphic from the paper showing four areas where our understanding of thermal biology can be improved by combining surface (Ts) and/or body (Tb) temperatures with other types of data, such as BMR (“basal metabolic rate”) and ambient temperatures (TA).
November 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Alignment across taxonomic levels in strategies rather than in traits along elevational gradients
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Aaditya Narasimhan & Yvonne Willi

📷: Kevin Thiele
A photo of Cardamine hirsuta showing a bifurcating green shoot with elongated leaves along the ends. A cluster of white flowers is starting to bloom in the middle of the shoot.
October 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Rapid temporal adaptation structures tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria in a natural population of the water flea Daphnia
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Maxime Fajgenblat et al.

📷: Janek Lass
A water flea of genus Daphnia in lateral view, showing an orange embryo in the brood pouch and greenish digestive tract through its transparent carapace. Credit: WikimediaCommons
September 23, 2025 at 4:13 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Changes to a leaf trait due to adaptive evolution and plasticity can rescue subalpine populations from the detrimental effects of climate change
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Diane R Campbell, @jellyturtle.bsky.social, and Justin Kipness

Illustration by J. Francis
Illustration of projected changes in leaves. Three possible scenarios are shown as green shoots of different lengths with different densities of projected leaves.
September 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Genetic divergence in population mean fitness is weakly associated with environmental and geographic distance in four prairie perennial forbs
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Anna R Peschel et al.

📷: Mike Budd/USFWS
A photo of prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) in bloom in the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota.
September 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude Heliconius butterflies
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by David F Rivas-Sánchez et al.
Rostral (C) and caudal (D) view of volumetric reconstructions of the brains of wild male H. e. venus (left half) and H. chestertonii (right half)
August 25, 2025 at 8:37 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Continent-wide differentiation of fitness traits and patterns of climate adaptation among European populations of Drosophila melanogaster
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Esra Durmaz Mitchell et al.
Drosophila melanogaster
A photo of Drosophila melanogaster on a leaf.
August 11, 2025 at 4:59 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Dynamics of infection and immunity over 50 years as marine stickleback adapt to freshwater
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Pranav Sriramulu et al.
📷: Gilles San Martin
A photo of a threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a small, elongate fish with iridescent green color along the back and translucent fins.
August 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
How predictably does complex trait adaptation proceed over space and time in wild populations?
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @skylerberardi.bsky.social, @paulrschmidt.bsky.social et al.

📷: Dr. Rush Dhillon
Figure showing the experimental overview as a graphic. Remaining alt text taken from the figure caption in the paper: (A) we sampled flies from six wild orchard populations ranging from Homestead, FL, to Lancaster, MA, and established isofemale lines in the laboratory. (B) We returned to a focal orchard in Media, PA, at early- and late-season timepoints and collected flies to capture evolutionary patterns following winter and summer conditions. (C) We then seeded outdoor mesocosms (N = 9) with an outbred population originating from early-season collections in Media, PA, and sampled flies at the end of summer (mid-season) and fall (late-season) to determine if seasonal patterns are recapitulated in experimental populations controlled for migration, drift, and cryptic population structure. (D) Across each wild or experimental context, we sampled flies, established lines in the lab, completed common garden treatment to remove environmental effects, and scored females for abdominal pigmentation. We also conducted pooled DNA sequencing on additional flies sampled from each population to map genomic patterns for candidate pigmentation SNPs.
July 31, 2025 at 6:35 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Predicting fitness in future climates: insights from temporally replicated field experiments in Arabidopsis thaliana
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Romain Villoutreix et al.

📷: Krzysztof Ziarnek
A photo of the flowers of Arabidopsis thaliana, which has small white flowers with yellowy-green centers.
July 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Rethinking the relationship between the sex ratio and sexual selection
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @gcmcdon.bsky.social, @daniedmunds.bsky.social, @stuartwigby.bsky.social, and @jennyperry.bsky.social

📷: Dani Edmunds
An image of a fruit fly created by collage.
February 28, 2025 at 5:09 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Hiding in plain sight: the Y chromosome and its reinvigorated role in evolutionary processes
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Wouter van der Bijl and
@judithmank.bsky.social.

📷: Jacelyn Shu
February 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Is susceptibility to different viruses phylogenetically correlated across host species?
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Ryan M Imrie, Megan A Wallace, and @blongdon.bsky.social.
Fold changes in viral load across Drosophilidae host species after infection with different viruses. Bar heights and color show the mean change in viral load from 0 to 2 dpi on a log10 scale, with error bars representing the standard error of the mean. The phylogeny of Drosophilidae hosts is shown at the bottom, with a scale bar for the number of nucleotide substitutions per site and an axis showing the approximate age since divergence (mya)
February 11, 2025 at 6:56 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Vision is complex and requires coordination among cellular and morphological traits. How do these relationships shape ocular evolution? A new study in @evolletters.bsky.social by @ekopania.bsky.social and @nclark.bsky.social investigates this question:

doi.org/10.1093/evle...
Two phylogenies shown facing each other with silhouettes of a sloth, wolf, goat, bat, mouse and gorilla at the tips of each. The left phylogeny shows orbit convergence (measured in degrees) and the right phylogeny shows relative position of high-acuity retinal specialization.
February 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Inbreeding depression is more severe in harsher environmental conditions, as shown in a wild population
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @annamhew.bsky.social et al.

📷: Anna Hewett
A photograph of two red deer standing on a rock. Both deer are looking at the camera, and the individual on the left is wearing a radio transmitting collar.
January 24, 2025 at 5:56 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Why is an old male reproductively doomed to fail? Is it poor sperm and seminal fluid, or do females not like him and his ejaculate?
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @krishsanghvi11.bsky.social, @taralync.bsky.social, et al.

Image: Krish Sangvi & Martin Jahn
A photo of female Drosophila melanogaster seminal receptacle with GFP tagged sperm.
January 16, 2025 at 5:03 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Parallel and convergent evolution in genes underlying seasonal migration
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Luz E Zamudio-Beltrán et al.
January 9, 2025 at 7:19 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Theoretical evolutionary analysis shows that symbiont strains with different levels of defensive toxins can coexist in the algal host Bryopsis sp.
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Prerna Singh et al.
December 18, 2024 at 7:27 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Genetic structure and common ancestry expose the dingo-dog hybrid myth
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Andrew R Weeks et al.
📷: Wikimedia commons
A photo of a dingo, a slender candid with a light brown coat and pointed ears, standing in a field.
December 11, 2024 at 7:43 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
The hidden cost of aggregation lies in the incompatibilities between cells with different genetic dialects
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @jahanisrat.bsky.social, @treyjscott.bsky.social, @joanstrassmann.bsky.social, and David C Queller
Social life cycle of D. discoideum illustrating clone mixing. Life stages are not drawn to scale. Labels on the illustration read: 1) vegetative amoebas feed on bacteria, 2) when starving, amoebas aggregate to form multicellular mound, 3) mound matures into a motile slug and moves towards light, 4) during fruiting, most amoebas develop into spores, ~20% are sacrificed to form stalk, 5) spores disperse to new environments and hatch into vegetative amoebas, 6) by disproportionately investing in spores, cheater genotypes can outcompete cooperators.
December 6, 2024 at 3:31 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
What forces drive genome evolution in groups with young sex chromosomes?
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @rejectresubmit.bsky.social, @joannarifkin.bsky.social, @bmsacchi.bsky.social, @stepheniwright.bsky.social et al

📷: Joanna Rifkin
A photo of Rumex hastatulus, a flowering plant with clusters of small, red flowers.
December 4, 2024 at 4:03 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Behaviors and reproductive characteristics may evolve faster than other traits, thanks to the genetic effects of social interactions
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Francesca Santostefano, Maria Moiron, Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar, and David N Fisher
November 25, 2024 at 7:01 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Same trait, different genes: pelvic spine loss in three brook stickleback populations in Alberta, Canada
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

New work published in @evolletters.bsky.social by @jonmee.bsky.social and undergraduate researchers at Mount Royal University.
A photo of a man standing in a forest while holding a small stickleback fish. A photo of three people wearing wading gear and holding fishing equipment. They are standing on the grassy bank of a body of water.
October 23, 2024 at 9:27 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Evidence suggests that genes associated with variation in advertisement song within species may be under divergent selection between closely related field cricket species.
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @leebanhy.bsky.social et al.
A photo of two crickets mating on a brown paper bag.
October 17, 2024 at 2:00 PM
evolletters.bsky.social
Old friends make new bones: the evolution of repeating structures in sticklebacks
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Amy L Herbert et al.
X-ray image of Apeltes quadracus, with a dorsal spine highlighted in pink.
October 17, 2024 at 1:49 PM