\u201cIf you frame it as an either\/or question, it\u2019s too simplistic,\u201d says Utah State University evolutionary biologist Zachariah Gompert. \u201cThe answer isn\u2019t \u2018completely random\u2019 or \u2018completely deterministic and predictable.\u2019 And yet, examining short time scales, we can find predictable, repeatable evolutionary patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gompert and colleagues report evidence of repeatable evolution in populations of stick insects in the May 24, 2024, online edition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science\u2019s journal Science Advances<\/em>. Collaborating authors on the paper include Gompert\u2019s long-time collaborator Patrik Nosil and other researchers from France\u2019s University of Montpelier, Brazil\u2019s Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo, the University of Nevada, Reno and Notre Dame University. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council.<\/p>\n The team examined three decades of data on the frequency of cryptic color-pattern morphs in the stick insect species Timema cristinae<\/em> in ten naturally replicate populations in California. T. cristinae<\/em> is polymorphic in regard to its body color and pattern. Some insects are green, which allows the wingless, plant-feeding insect to blend in with California lilac (Ceanothus spinosus<\/em>) shrubs. In contrast, green striped morphs disappear against chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum<\/em>) shrubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIf you frame it as an either\/or question, it\u2019s too simplistic,\u201d says Utah State University evolutionary biologist Zachariah Gompert. \u201cThe answer isn\u2019t \u2018completely random\u2019 or \u2018completely deterministic and predictable.\u2019 And yet, examining short time scales, we can find predictable, repeatable evolutionary patterns.\u201d Gompert and colleagues report evidence of repeatable evolution in populations of stick insects [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[385],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evolution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}