The species concept is the cornerstone of biodiversity science, and any paradigm shift in the
delimitation of species affects many research fields. Many biologists now are embracing a …

Convergent evolution of similar phenotypic features in similar environmental contexts has
long been taken as evidence of adaptation. Nonetheless, recent conceptual and empirical …

phytools: an R package for phylogenetic comparative biology (and other things) Page 1
APPLICATION phytools: an R package for phylogenetic comparative biology (and other things) …

Background The extant squamates (> 9400 known species of lizards and snakes) are one of
the most diverse and conspicuous radiations of terrestrial vertebrates, but no studies have …

Metacommunity ecology links smaller-scale processes that have been the provenance of
population and community ecology—such as birth-death processes, species interactions …

In recent years, scientists have realized that evolution can occur on timescales much shorter
than the" long lapse of ages" emphasized by Darwin—in fact, evolutionary change is …

Phylogenetic comparative methods comprise the general endeavor of using an estimated
phylogenetic tree (or set of trees) to make secondary inferences: about trait evolution …

The process of adaptive radiation—the proliferation of species from a single ancestor and
diversification into many ecologically different forms—has been of great interest to …

Abstract George Gaylord Simpson famously postulated that much of life's diversity originated
as adaptive radiations—more or less simultaneous divergences of numerous lines from a …

Charles Darwin's travels on HMS Beagle taught him that islands are an important source of
evidence for evolution. Because many islands are young and have relatively few species …