The reconstruction of the Tree of Life has relied almost entirely on concatenation methods, which do not accommodate gene tree heterogeneity, a property that simulations and theory have identified as a likely cause of incongruent phylogenies. However...
We explored the efficacy of species tree methods at the family level in birds, using the Australo-Papuan Fairy-wrens (Passeriformes: Maluridae) as a model system. Fairy-wrens of the genus Malurus are known for high intensities of sexual selection...
Two models, Z Dosage and Dominant W, have been proposed to explain sex determination in birds, in which males are characterized by the presence of two Z chromosomes, and females are hemizygous with a Z and a W chromosome. According to the Z Dosage model...
Author Summary
Documenting the evolutionary changes occurring in pathogens when they switch hosts is important for understanding mechanisms of adaptation and rates of evolution. We took advantage of a novel host–pathogen system involving a bacterial...
Innate immunity is expected to play a primary role in conferring resistance to novel infectious diseases, but few studies have attempted to examine its role in the evolution of resistance to emerging pathogens in wild vertebrate populations. Here, we used...
Understanding and resolving conflicts between phenotypic and genetic differentiation is central to evolutionary research. While phenotypically monomorphic species may exhibit deep genetic divergences, some morphologically distinct taxa lack notable...
Wild organisms are under increasing pressure to adapt rapidly to environmental changes. Predicting the impact of these changes on natural populations requires an understanding of the speed with which adaptive phenotypes can arise and spread, as well as of...
