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1. Behavioral Isolation due to Cascade Reinforcement in Lucania Killifish

   https://doi.org/10.1086/680023  

   Kozak, Genevieve M.; Roland, Genevieve; Rankhorn, Clare; Falater, Amy; Berdan, Emma L.; Fuller, Rebecca C. (April 2015, The American Naturalist)
2. Male and female contributions to behavioral isolation in darters as a function of genetic distance and color distance: BEHAVIORAL ISOLATION IN DARTERS

   https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13321  

   Moran, Rachel L.; Zhou, Muchu; Catchen, Julian M.; Fuller, Rebecca C. (October 2017, Evolution)
3. Postzygotic Isolation Evolves before Prezygotic Isolation between Fresh and Saltwater Populations of the Rainwater Killifish, Lucania parva

   https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/523967  

   Kozak, Genevieve M.; Rudolph, Arthur B.; Colon, Beatrice L.; Fuller, Rebecca C. (January 2012, International Journal of Evolutionary Biology)

   Divergent natural selection has the potential to drive the evolution of reproductive isolation. The euryhaline killifish Lucania parva has stable populations in both fresh water and salt water. Lucania parva and its sister species, the freshwater L. goodei , are isolated by both prezygotic and postzygotic barriers. To further test whether adaptation to salinity has led to the evolution of these isolating barriers, we tested for incipient reproductive isolation within L. parva by crossing freshwater and saltwater populations. We found no evidence for prezygotic isolation, but reduced hybrid survival indicated that postzygotic isolation existed between L. parva populations. Therefore, postzygotic isolation evolved before prezygotic isolation in these ecologically divergent populations. Previous work on these species raised eggs with methylene blue, which acts as a fungicide. We found this fungicide distorts the pattern of postzygotic isolation by increasing fresh water survival in L. parva , masking species/population differences, and underestimating hybrid inviability. 

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4. Differential neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and behavioral impacts of early-age isolation in a eusocial insect.

   Goolsby, BC; Smith, EJ; Muratore, IB; Muscedere, M; Coto, Z; Traniello, JFA (April 2024, Brain behavior and evolution)
5. Unraveling the Neural Basis of Behavioral Isolation through the Lens of Audition in Anurans

   https://doi.org/10.1159/000542575  

   Anderson, Carlie B (June 2025, Brain, Behavior and Evolution)

   Background: The origin and maintenance of species is a unifying theme in evolutionary biology. Mate choice and selection on sexual signals have emerged as powerful drivers of reproductive isolation – the key pillar of the biological species concept. The mechanistic underpinnings of isolating behaviors lie in the circuit- and cellular-level properties of the brain and remain relatively understudied. Summary: Here, I argue that temporal auditory selectivity in anuran amphibians offers a window into the proximate mechanisms of reproductive isolation. First, I discuss anuran behaviors as a longstanding neuroethological model with which to examine behavioral reproductive isolation and its neural correlates. Next, I review how modern neurobiological techniques are revealing the proximate mechanisms of the evolution of divergent mate preferences in anurans, highlighting cellular-level neural shifts in temporal coding. Finally, I discuss future research directions to reveal the neural mechanisms through which behavioral isolation is generated and maintained in anuran model systems. Key Messages: Anurans offer a powerful model for addressing questions about how neural barriers to gene flow arise across biological scales and how changes in the brain contribute to speciation. Modern evolutionary neurobiology will benefit from applying new tools to this longstanding neuroethological model clade. 

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