In many species, early life experiences have striking effects on health, reproduction, and survival in adulthood. Thus, early life conditions shape a range of evolutionarily relevant traits, and in doing so alter ...

All organisms live in complex habitats that shape the course of their evolution by altering the phenotype expressed by a given genotype (a phenomenon known as phenotypic plasticity) and simultaneously by determining the ...

Closely related, ecologically similar species are often separated at a small scale while being broadly sympatric. In Northern California’s coast range two monkeyflower species, Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus nudatus co-occur ...

Diversity in coloration is a common phenomenon in marine invertebrates, although the ecological significance of the diversity is often unknown. Patterns of geographic variability, particularly with respect to color phenotypes, ...

One of the major goals of evolutionary biology is understanding the process of species formation. There is particular interest in how selection can favor species formation through the process of reinforcement. When two ...

Closely related populations or species often occupy ecologically disparate habitats. Adaptation to new habitats can maintain genetic variation within a species or eventually lead to speciation. Local adaptation to different ...