BACKGROUND Evolution is a strongly historical process, and evolutionary biology is a field
that combines history and science. How the historical nature of evolution affects the …

Parallel evolution across replicate populations has provided evolutionary biologists with
iconic examples of adaptation. When multiple populations colonize seemingly similar …

The design and function of leaf venation are important to plant performance, with key
implications for the distribution and productivity of ecosystems, and applications in …

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

Ecologically mediated selection against hybrids, caused by hybrid phenotypes fitting poorly
into available niches, is typically viewed as distinct from selection caused by epistatic …

The increasing availability of phylogenetic data, computing power and informatics tools has
facilitated a rapid expansion of studies that apply phylogenetic data and methods to …

Biological systems that perform multiple tasks face a fundamental trade-off: A given
phenotype cannot be optimal at all tasks. Here we ask how trade-offs affect the range of …

When diverse lineages repeatedly adapt to similar environmental challenges, the extent to
which the same genes are involved (gene reuse) varies across systems. We propose that …

The study of phenotypic evolution should be an integrative endeavor that combines different
approaches and crosses disciplinary and phylogenetic boundaries to consider complex …

Biological systems, from molecular complexes to whole organisms and ecological
interactions, tend to have a modular organization. Modules are sets of traits that are …