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Tag Archives: speciation
Exploring the evolution of troglodytes?
This post is by MSU postdoc John Phillips Some of you may be familiar with the term ‘troglodyte’, which is a somewhat old-timey derogatory term for an unintelligent person. The Greek root troglo- means “cave” so a troglodyte is a cave … Continue reading
Posted in BEACON Researchers at Work, Notes from the Field
Tagged BEACON Researchers at Work, Biological Evolution, caves, Field Biology, genetics, speciation
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Male battles split species apart
This post is by MSU postdoc Jason Keagy How do species form? Stated more precisely, how does one species become two? This turns out to be an immensely difficult question to answer, because 1) species are not always distinct entities (species … Continue reading
BEACON Researchers at Work: Are Electric Fish Magic?
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by postdoc Will Pitchers from the Gallant Lab at MSU. The fishes in our lab — African freshwater fish called Mormyrids — seem pretty magical when one first hears about them; … Continue reading
BEACON Researchers at Work: The Invisible Hand of Evolution
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU postdoc Jeff Morris. As the 18th century dawned over Europe, pretty much everybody believed the world was as it was because of a mysterious divine plan. But during the … Continue reading
BEACON Researchers at Work: The mystery of tropical diversity: testing a forgotten idea
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by MSU graduate student Carina Baskett. Carina blogs at Wandering Nature. Here in Michigan, the hummingbirds are coming back for the summer. If you see one, it’s likely a Ruby-Throated, since it’s … Continue reading
Using fitness landscapes to visualize evolution in action
BEACONites Bjørn Østman and Randy Olson created a video to visualize evolution in action using fitness landscapes. Read about it below! Fitness landscapes were invented by Sewall Wright in 1932. They map fitness, or reproductive success, of individual organisms as a function … Continue reading
BEACON Researchers at Work: The Origin of a Species?
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU postdoc Zachary Blount. I love big questions. I tend to walk around, my head in the clouds, questions flitting through my head. I admit that I have walked into … Continue reading
BEACON Researchers at Work: Making and breaking species
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU graduate student Alycia Lackey. The world’s biodiversity represents a balance between the formation and extinction of species. To understand what drives diversity, scientists study what generates, maintains, and degrades … Continue reading
Evolution 101: Natural Selection
This week’s Evolution 101 post is by an interdisciplinary group of BEACONites, all of whom rely on the principles of natural selection in their research: MSU graduate student Nikki Cavalieri (Zoology), MSU postdoc Prakarn Unachak (Evolutionary Computation), and NC A&T … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution 101
Tagged crossover, Evolution 101, mutations, natural selection, speciation
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BEACON Researchers at Work: Speciation and genetic incompatibilities in digital organisms
This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by MSU graduate student Carlos Anderson. This blog post is a follow up to one I wrote last year about my research on speciation with digital organisms. One of my projects tested … Continue reading