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1. Tangled banks, braided rivers, and complex hierarchies: beyond microevolution and macroevolution

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae065  

   Kearney, Maureen; Lieberman, Bruce_S; Strotz, Luke_C; Holman, ed., Luke; Tsuboi, ed., Masahito (May 2024, Journal of Evolutionary Biology)

   Abstract Ever since the Modern Synthesis, a debate about the relationship between microevolution and macroevolution has persisted—specifically, whether they are equivalent, distinct, or explain one another. How one answers these questions has become shorthand for a much broader set of theoretical debates in evolutionary biology. Here, we examine microevolution and macroevolution in the context of the vast proliferation of data, knowledge, and theory since the advent of the Modern Synthesis. We suggest that traditional views on microevolution and macroevolution are too binary and reductive given current empirical and theoretical advances in biology. For example, patterns and processes are interconnected at various temporal and spatial scales and among hierarchical entities, rather than defining micro- or macro-domains. Further, biological entities have variably fuzzy boundaries, resulting in complex evolutionary processes that influence macroevolution occuring at both micro- and macro-levels. In addition, conceptual advances in phylodynamics have yet to be fully integrated with contemporary macroevolutionary approaches. Finally, holding microevolution and macroevolution as distinct domains thwarts synthesis and collaboration on important research questions. Instead, we propose that the focal entities and processes considered by evolutionary studies be contextualized within the complexity of the multidimensional, multimodal, multilevel phylogenetic system. 

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2. Approaches to macroevolution: 2. Sorting of variation, some overarching issues, and general conclusions.

   Jablonski, D. (July 2017, Evolutionary biology)

   Abstract Approaches to macroevolution require integration of its two fundamental components, within a hierarchical framework. Following a companion paper on the origin of variation, I here discuss sorting within an evolutionary hierarchy. Species sorting—sometimes termed species selection in the broad sense, meaning differential origination and extinction owing to intrinsic biological properties—can be split into strict-sense species selection, in which rate differentials are governed by emergent, species-level traits such as geographic range size, and effect macroevolution, in which rates are governed by organism-level traits such as body size; both processes can create hitchhiking effects, indirectly causing the proliferation or decline of other traits. Several methods can operationalize the concept of emergence, so that rigorous separation of these processes is increasingly feasible. A macroevolutionary tradeoff, underlain by the intrinsic traits that influence evolutionary dynamics, causes speciation and extinction rates to covary in many clades, resulting in evolutionary volatility of some clades and more subdued behavior of others; the few clades that break the tradeoff can achieve especially prolific diversification. In addition to intrinsic biological traits at multiple levels, extrinsic events can drive the waxing and waning of clades, and the interaction of traits and events are difficult but important to disentangle. Evolutionary trends can arise in many ways, and at any hierarchical level; descriptive models can be fitted to clade trajectories in phenotypic or functional spaces, but they may not be diagnostic regarding processes, and close attention must be paid to both leading and trailingedges of apparent trends. Biotic interactions can have negative or positive effects on taxonomic diversity within a clade, but cannot be readily extrapolated from the nature of such interactions at the organismic level. The relationships among macroevolutionary currencies through time (taxonomic richness, morphologic disparity, functional variety) are crucial for understanding the nature of evolutionary diversification. A novel approach to diversity-disparity analysis shows that taxonomic diversifications can lag behind, occur in concert with, or precede, increases in disparity. Some overarching issues relating to both the origin and sorting of clades and phenotypes include the macroevolutionary role of mass extinctions, the potential differences between plant and animal macroevolution, whether macroevolutionary processes have changed through geologic time, and the growing human impact on present-day macroevolution. Many challenges remain, but progress is being made on two of the key ones: (a) the integration of variation-generating mechanisms and the multilevel sorting processes that act on that variation, and (b) the integration of paleontological and neontological approaches to historical biology. 

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3. Developmental bias, macroevolution, and the fossil record

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ede.12313  

   Jablonski, David (September 2019, Evolution & Development)

   Abstract A fuller understanding of the role of developmental bias in shaping large‐scale evolutionary patterns requires integrating bias (the probability distribution of variation accessible to an ancestral phenotype) with clade dynamics (the differential survival and production of species and evolutionary lineages). This synthesis could proceed as a two‐way exchange between the developmental data available to neontologists and the strictly phenotypic but richly historical and dynamic data available to paleontologists. Analyses starting in extant populations could aim to predict macroevolution in the fossil record from observed developmental bias, while analyses starting in the fossil record, particularly the record of extant species and lineages, could aim to predict developmental bias from macroevolutionary patterns, including the broad range of extinct phenotypes. Analyses in multivariate morphospaces are especially effective when coupled with phylogeny, theoretical and developmental models, and diversity–disparity plots. This research program will also require assessing the “heritability” of an ancestral bias across phylogeny, and the tendency for bias change in strength and orientation over evolutionary time. Such analyses will help find a set of general rules for the macroevolutionary effects of developmental bias, including its impact on and interactions with the other intrinsic and extrinsic factors governing the movement, expansion, and contraction of clades in morphospace. 

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4. Evidence for Macroevolution

   https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2025.87.2.93  

   Hoskinson, Joshua S; Wideman, Jeremy G (February 2025, The American Biology Teacher)

   The teaching and learning of macroevolutionary processes have received limited attention in the evolution education literature despite their importance in evolution acceptance and evolution understanding. This necessitates the development of pedagogical content knowledge, including best practices in curriculum and instruction, on macroevolutionary processes that support student understanding and acceptance of macroevolution. One promising approach is to consider macroevolution at the microbiological level by teaching endosymbiotic theory while capitalizing on pre-existing pedagogical content knowledge of tree thinking and bioinformatics. Here, we present a computational laboratory activity that guides students through the construction of a phylogeny based on the universal small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. The resulting phylogenetic tree demonstrates that the photosynthetic organelles of the protist Paulinella chromatophora evolved independently of the chloroplasts of plants and algae. This not only addresses the need for pedagogical content knowledge in macroevolution in an interdisciplinary and integrative fashion, but also serves as a foundation for future research into the teaching of endosymbiosis. This activity is designed for a 15–20 student introductory/intermediate biology laboratory. 

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5. Conceptual and empirical bridges between micro- and macroevolution

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02116-7  

   Rolland, Jonathan; Henao-Diaz, L. Francisco; Doebeli, Michael; Germain, Rachel; Harmon, Luke J.; Knowles, L. Lacey; Liow, Lee Hsiang; Mank, Judith E.; Machac, Antonin; Otto, Sarah P.; et al (August 2023, Nature Ecology & Evolution)

   Explaining broad molecular, phenotypic and species biodiversity patterns necessitates a unifying framework spanning multiple evolutionary scales. Here we argue that although substantial effort has been made to reconcile microevolution and macroevolution, much work remains to identify the links between biological processes at play. We highlight four major questions of evolutionary biology whose solutions require conceptual bridges between micro and macroevolution. We review potential avenues for future research to establish how mechanisms at one scale (drift, mutation, migration, selection) translate to processes at the other scale (speciation, extinction, biogeographic dispersal) and vice versa. We propose ways in which current comparative methods to infer molecular evolution, phenotypic evolution and species diversification could be improved to specifically address these questions. We conclude that researchers are in a better position than ever before to build a synthesis to understand how microevolutionary dynamics unfold over millions of years. 

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