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1. A common mechanism drives the alignment between the micro‐ and macroevolution of primate molars

   https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14600  

   Mongle, Carrie S.; Nesbitt, Allison; Machado, Fabio A.; Smaers, Jeroen B.; Turner, Alan H.; Grine, Frederick E.; Uyeda, Josef C. (December 2022, Evolution)

   A central challenge for biology is to reveal how different levels of biological variation interact and shape diversity. However, recent experimental studies have indicated that prevailing models of evolution cannot readily explain the link between micro- and macroevolution at deep timescales. Here, we suggest that this paradox could be the result of a common mechanism driving a correlated pattern of evolution. We examine the proportionality between genetic variance and patterns of trait evolution in a system whose developmental processes are well understood to gain insight into how such alignment between morphological divergence and genetic variation might be maintained over macroevolutionary time. Primate molars present a model system by which to link developmental processes to evolutionary dynamics because of the biased pattern of variation that results from the developmental architecture regulating their formation. We consider how this biased variation is expressed at the population level, and how it manifests through evolution across primates. There is a strong correspondence between the macroevolutionary rates of primate molar divergence and their genetic variation. This suggests a model of evolution in which selection is closely aligned with the direction of genetic variance, phenotypic variance, and the underlying developmental architecture of anatomical traits. 

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2. Modeling the Evolution of Rates of Continuous Trait Evolution

   https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syac068  

   Martin, Bruce S.; Bradburd, Gideon S.; Harmon, Luke J.; Weber, Marjorie G.; López-Fernández, ed., Hernán (November 2022, Systematic Biology)

   Abstract Rates of phenotypic evolution vary markedly across the tree of life, from the accelerated evolution apparent in adaptive radiations to the remarkable evolutionary stasis exhibited by so-called “living fossils.” Such rate variation has important consequences for large-scale evolutionary dynamics, generating vast disparities in phenotypic diversity across space, time, and taxa. Despite this, most methods for estimating trait evolution rates assume rates vary deterministically with respect to some variable of interest or change infrequently during a clade’s history. These assumptions may cause underfitting of trait evolution models and mislead hypothesis testing. Here, we develop a new trait evolution model that allows rates to vary gradually and stochastically across a clade. Further, we extend this model to accommodate generally decreasing or increasing rates over time, allowing for flexible modeling of “early/late bursts” of trait evolution. We implement a Bayesian method, termed “evolving rates” (evorates for short), to efficiently fit this model to comparative data. Through simulation, we demonstrate that evorates can reliably infer both how and in which lineages trait evolution rates varied during a clade’s history. We apply this method to body size evolution in cetaceans, recovering substantial support for an overall slowdown in body size evolution over time with recent bursts among some oceanic dolphins and relative stasis among beaked whales of the genus Mesoplodon. These results unify and expand on previous research, demonstrating the empirical utility of evorates. [cetacea; macroevolution; comparative methods; phenotypic diversity; disparity; early burst; late burst] 

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3. Noise leads to the perceived increase in evolutionary rates over short time scales

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012458  

   O’Meara, Brian C; Beaulieu, Jeremy M (September 2024, PLOS Computational Biology)

   Friedberg, Iddo (Ed.)

   Across a variety of biological datasets, from genomes to conservation to the fossil record, evolutionary rates appear to increase toward the present or over short time scales. This has long been seen as an indication of processes operating differently at different time scales, even potentially as an indicator of a need for new theory connecting macroevolution and microevolution. Here we introduce a set of models that assess the relationship between rate and time and demonstrate that these patterns are statistical artifacts of time-independent errors present across ecological and evolutionary datasets, which produce hyperbolic patterns of rates through time. We show that plotting a noisy numerator divided by time versus time leads to the observed hyperbolic pattern; in fact, randomizing the amount of change over time generates patterns functionally identical to observed patterns. Ignoring errors can not only obscure true patterns but create novel patterns that have long misled scientists. 

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4. Ecological Interactions and Macroevolution: A New Field with Old Roots

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-011720-121505  

   Hembry, David H.; Weber, Marjorie G. (November 2020, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics)

   null (Ed.)

   Linking interspecific interactions (e.g., mutualism, competition, predation, parasitism) to macroevolution (evolutionary change on deep timescales) is a key goal in biology. The role of species interactions in shaping macroevolutionary trajectories has been studied for centuries and remains a cutting-edge topic of current research. However, despite its deep historical roots, classic and current approaches to this topic are highly diverse. Here, we combine historical and contemporary perspectives on the study of ecological interactions in macroevolution, synthesizing ideas across eras to build a zoomed-out picture of the big questions at the nexus of ecology and macroevolution. We discuss the trajectory of this important and challenging field, dividing research into work done before the 1970s, research between 1970 and 2005, and work done since 2005. We argue that in response to long-standing questions in paleobiology, evidence accumulated to date has demonstrated that biotic interactions (including mutualism) can influence lineage diversification and trait evolution over macroevolutionary timescales, and we outline major open questions for future research in the field. 

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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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