Evolution Commons^™

I Lost My Number, Can I Have Yours? Body Image Satisfaction With Sexually Dimorphic Traits Is Associated With Men's Dating Anxiety And Confidence, David A. Frederick, Tania A. Reynolds, Nikoline L. Smart, Justin R. Garcia, David A. Puts

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary scientists posit that sexual selection processes caused males to develop sexually dimorphic traits to aid them during intrasexual competition and increase their likelihood of being chosen as mates. Evolutionary social sciences have extensively examined women's preferences for traits such as muscle mass and voice pitch, reasoning that these traits serve as cues of men's ability to provide direct benefits (e.g., resources) and indirect (genetic) benefits passed on to offspring. At the same time, body image researchers have extensively focused on the social causes and consequences of men's dissatisfaction with their muscularity and body fat. We connected these two research …

No Effect In Plasma Corticosterone Levels After Observation Of Diseased Conspecifics, B. M. Hardy, M. Chang, S. Mccallum, S. Santangelo, Patricia C. Lopes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Organisms commonly respond to stressors in their environment by increasing the secretion of corticosterone (CORT). While increased CORT is acknowledged as a response to predation risk by organisms inhabiting a landscape of fear, new research raises the potential for changes in CORT as a response to the risk of infection by organisms in their environment. An increase in CORT of a healthy, uninfected individual in response to their perception of the risk of infection in their environment could change their susceptibility to infection, highlighting a significant role for CORT to alter host–pathogen dynamics. To investigate the effects of infection risk …

Immunological Surveillance Against Cancer Across Mammals, Orsolya Vincze, Piotr Minias, Alexandre Corthay, Fernando Colchero, Jean-François Lemaître, Louise Maille, Tamás Malkócs, Justus Hagemann, Dalia A. Conde, Samuel Pavard, Antoine M. Dujon, Beata Ujvari, Frédéric Thomas, Amy M. Boddy, Carlo C. Maley, Damien Chevallier, Tuul Sepp, Thomas Pradeu, Mathieu Giraudeau

Presidential Fellows Articles and Research

Contrary to expectations based on their higher cell numbers, larger and longer-lived species do not face dramatically increased risk of cancer. This strongly suggests that evolution has fashioned natural cancer resistance mechanisms, yet our knowledge remains limited on what these mechanisms might be. The cancer immunological surveillance hypothesis, proposed by Burnet and Thomas in the 1950s, highlights immunity as a key factor determining species-specific cancer resistance. Here we address the original, evolutionary interpretation of this hypothesis by investigating the relationship between cancer mortality risk and markers of efficient antigen presentation. Our results show that the expansion of the MHC class …

Cost-Effective Solutions For High-Throughput Enzymatic Dna Methylation Sequencing, Amy Longtin, Marina M. Watowich, Baptiste Sadoughi, Rachel M. Petersen, Sarah F. Brosnan, Kenneth Buetow, Qiuyin Cai, Cayo Biobank Research Unit, Vanderbilt University, Michael D. Gurven, James P. Higham, Heather M. Highland, Yi-Ting Huang, Hillard Kaplan, Thomas S. Kraft, Yvonne A. L. Lim, Jirong Long, Amanda D. Melin, Michael J. Montagne, Jamie Roberson, Kee Seong Ng, Michael L. Platt, India A. Schneider-Crease, Jonathan Stieglitz, Benjamin C. Trumble, Vivek Venkataraman, Ian J. Wallace, Jie Wu, Noah Snyder-Mackler, Angela Jones, Alexander G. Bick, Amanda J. Lea

ESI Publications

Characterizing DNA methylation patterns is important for addressing key questions in evolutionary biology, development, geroscience, and medical genomics. While costs are decreasing, whole-genome DNA methylation profiling remains prohibitively expensive for most population-scale studies, creating a need for cost-effective, reduced representation approaches (i.e., assays that rely on microarrays, enzyme digests, or sequence capture to target a subset of the genome). Most common whole genome and reduced representation techniques rely on bisulfite conversion, which can damage DNA resulting in DNA loss and sequencing biases. Enzymatic methyl sequencing (EM-seq) was recently proposed to overcome these issues, but thorough benchmarking of EM-seq combined with …

Climate And Shared Evolutionary History Drive Trait Variation Among Species Of Neotropical Understory Monocots, Eleinis Ávila-Lovera, Oscar M. Vargas, Jennifer L. Funk, Kathleen M. Kay, Gregory R. Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Environmental variation commonly drives functional trait diversity within species, among species, and across communities. Climate and shared evolutionary history can both influence trait–environment relationships. We studied variation in plant functional traits among closely related Costus species occurring across environmental gradients, the extent to which this variation occurs within single species, and how that variation may be influenced by shared evolutionary history. We measured leaf, aboveground stem, rhizome, and fine root traits of 17 species of Costus in eight sites in Costa Rica and Panama, which varied in elevation, temperature, and precipitation. We then assessed the relationships among traits and environmental …

Does Behavior Evolve First? Correlated Responses To Selection For Voluntary Wheel-Running Behavior In House Mice, Rahim H. Khan, Justin S. Rhodes, Isabelle A. Girard, Nicole E. Schwartz, Theodore Garland Jr.

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

How traits at multiple levels of biological organization evolve in a correlated fashion in response to directional selection is poorly understood, but two popular models are the very general “behavior evolves first” (BEF) hypothesis and the more specific “morphology-performance-behavior-fitness” (MPBF) paradigm. Both acknowledge that selection often acts relatively directly on behavior and that when behavior evolves, other traits will as well but most with some lag. However, this proposition is exceedingly difficult to test in nature. Therefore, we studied correlated responses in the high-runner (HR) mouse selection experiment, in which four replicate lines have been bred for voluntary wheel-running behavior …

Still A Private Universe? Community College Students’ Understanding Of Evolution, Meredith A. Dorner, Philip Sadler, Brian Alters

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Measuring what students know and retain about evolution is essential to improving our understanding of how students learn evolution. The literature shows that college students appear to have a poor understanding of evolution, answering questions on various instruments correctly only about half of the time. There is little research regarding evolution understanding among community college students and so this study examines if those students who are enrolled in life science classes, who are assessed using questions based on grade eight standards, show a better understanding of evolutionary principles than younger students and if there are differences in knowledge based …

Internal Vertebral Morphology Of Bony Fishes Matches The Mechanical Demands Of Different Environments, Dana Baxter, Karly E. Cohen, Cassandra M. Donatelli, Eric D. Tytell

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Fishes have repeatedly evolved characteristic body shapes depending on how close they live to the substrate. Pelagic fishes live in open water and typically have narrow, streamlined body shapes; benthic and demersal fishes live close to the substrate; and demersal fishes often have deeper bodies. These shape differences are often associated with behavioral differences: pelagic fishes swim nearly constantly, demersal fishes tend to maneuver near the substrate, and benthic fishes often lie in wait on the substrate. We hypothesized that these morphological and behavioral differences would be reflected in the mechanical properties of the body, and specifically in vertebral column …

Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

When animals are sick, their physiology and behavior change in ways that can impact their offspring. Research is emerging showing that infection risk alone can also modify the physiology and behavior of healthy animals. If physiological responses to environments with high infection risk take place during reproduction, it is possible that they lead to maternal effects. Understanding whether and how high infection risk triggers maternal effects is important to elucidate how the impacts of infectious agents extend beyond infected individuals and how, in this way, they are even stronger evolutionary forces than already considered. Here, to evaluate the effects of …

Using Primary Literature On Sars‐Cov‐2 To Promote Student Learning About Evolution, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 has caused widespread deaths, illnesses, and societal disruption. I describe here how I pivoted a discussion‐based senior biology capstone course to include a multiweek module surrounding one primary literature paper on the evolution of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the subsequent scientific discourse about the paper. Using a gradual reveal of the paper following the CREATE method (consider, read, elucidate, and think of the next experiment), I challenged students to learn new evolutionary principles and critically analyze the data surrounding the evolution and transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 presented in the paper. I also provide general advice for …

Generating Species Assemblages For Restoration And Experimentation: A New Method That Can Simultaneously Converge On Average Trait Values And Maximize Functional Diversity, David C. Laughlin, Loïc Chalmandrier, Chaitanya Joshi, Michael Renton, John M. Dwyer, Jennifer L. Funk

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

1.Restoring resilient ecosystems in an era of rapid environmental change requires a flexible framework for selecting assemblages of species based on functional traits. However, current trait‐based models have been limited to algorithms that select species assemblages that only converge on specified average trait values, and could not accommodate the common desire among restoration ecologists to generate functionally diverse assemblages.

2.We have solved this problem by applying a nonlinear optimization algorithm to solve for the species relative abundances that maximize Rao's quadratic entropy (Q) subject to other linear constraints. Rao's Q is a closed‐form algebraic expression of functional diversity …

Breeding Stage And Parentage Affect Tameness In Common Loons, Mina Ibrahim

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Tameness is a measure of tolerance towards human disturbance. As human disturbance and recreational activity are increasing, it is becoming more and more important to understand responses of species to this disturbance. Tameness has been shown to be influenced by an individuals characteristics and life history. Two possible determinants of tameness are breeding stage and parentage. We studied tameness in common loons (Gavia immer) specifically looking at the effects of breeding stage and parentage. Tameness was measured by flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which a loon dove from an approaching human observer in a canoe. Loons …

Comparative Approaches To Studying Strategy: Towards An Evolutionary Account Of Primate Decision Making, Sarah F. Brosnan, Michael J. Beran, Audrey E. Parrish, Sara A. Price, Bart J. Wilson

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

How do primates, humans included, deal with novel problems that arise in interactions with other group members? Despite much research regarding how animals and humans solve social problems, few studies have utilized comparable procedures, outcomes, or measures across different species. Thus, it is difficult to piece together the evolution of decision making, including the roots from which human economic decision making emerged. Recently, a comparative body of decision making research has emerged, relying largely on the methodology of experimental economics in order to address these questions in a cross-species fashion. Experimental economics is an ideal method of inquiry for this …

The Physiology Of Invasive Plants In Low-Resource Environments, Jennifer L. Funk

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

While invasive plant species primarily occur in disturbed, high-resource environments, many species have invaded ecosystems characterized by low nutrient, water, and light availability. Species adapted to low-resource systems often display traits associated with resource conservation, such as slow growth, high tissue longevity, and resource-use efficiency. This contrasts with our general understanding of invasive species physiology derived primarily from studies in high-resource environments. These studies suggest that invasive species succeed through high resource acquisition. This review examines physiological and morphological traits of native and invasive species in low-resource environments. Existing data support the idea that species invading low-resource environments possess traits …

Functionality, Parsimony, Discovery, Avoiding Hamartia: How Evolutionary Perspectives Are Changing Psychology, Brooke N. Jenkins, Aaron T. Goetz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary psychology offers an important perspective to scientific psychology. Evolutionary psychology, in its short existence, has added an abundance of knowledge to the social sciences, let alone psychology. The study of human cognition and behavior remains incomplete without an evolutionary perspective. Here, we argue that evolutionary psychology uniquely provides a complete understanding of scientific psychology because it explains the functions of our psychological traits, provides us with the most parsimonious explanation of many psychological phenomena, predicts undocumented phenomena, and possibly allows us to avoid the downfalls of some of our contemptible evolved psychological mechanisms.

Demographic Estimates From Y Chromosome Microsatellite Polymorphisms: Analysis Of A Worldwide Sample, J. Michael Macpherson, Sohini Ramachandran, Lisa Diamond, Marcus W. Feldman

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Polymorphisms in microsatellites on the human Y chromosome have been used to estimate important demographic parameters of human history. We compare two coalescent-based statistical methods that give estimates for a number of demographic parameters using the seven Y chromosome polymorphisms in the HGDP-CEPH Cell Line Panel, a collection of samples from 52 worldwide populations. The estimates for the time to the most recent common ancestor vary according to the method used and the assumptions about the prior distributions of model parameters, but are generally consistent with other global Y chromosome studies. We explore the sensitivity of these results to assumptions …