Institution
National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
Nonprofit•Durham, North Carolina, United States•
About: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center is a nonprofit organization based out in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Phylogenetic tree & Population. The organization has 120 authors who have published 329 publications receiving 29282 citations.
Papers
More filters
••
TL;DR: It is suggested that, similar to the manifold that tree species leaf traits cluster around the 'leaf economics spectrum', a similar 'wood economics spectrum' may be defined.
Abstract: Wood performs several essential functions in plants, including mechanically supporting aboveground tissue, storing water and other resources, and transporting sap. Woody tissues are likely to face physiological, structural and defensive trade-offs. How a plant optimizes among these competing functions can have major ecological implications, which have been under-appreciated by ecologists compared to the focus they have given to leaf function. To draw together our current understanding of wood function, we identify and collate data on the major wood functional traits, including the largest wood density database to date (8412 taxa), mechanical strength measures and anatomical features, as well as clade-specific features such as secondary chemistry. We then show how wood traits are related to one another, highlighting functional trade-offs, and to ecological and demographic plant features (growth form, growth rate, latitude, ecological setting). We suggest that, similar to the manifold that tree species leaf traits cluster around the 'leaf economics spectrum', a similar 'wood economics spectrum' may be defined. We then discuss the biogeography, evolution and biogeochemistry of the spectrum, and conclude by pointing out the major gaps in our current knowledge of wood functional traits.
2,408 citations
••
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation1, Rutgers University2, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies3, University of Jena4, University of Bonn5, University of Vienna6, Naturhistorisches Museum7, University of Tsukuba8, Landcare Research9, Johns Hopkins University10, University of Hamburg11, Ehime University12, Florida Museum of Natural History13, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart14, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center15, Macquarie University16, Australian National University17, American Museum of Natural History18, University of Memphis19, University of Guadalajara20, Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities21, Natural History Museum22, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology23, California Academy of Sciences24, South China Agricultural University25, North Carolina State University26, Hokkaido University27
TL;DR: The phylogeny of all major insect lineages reveals how and when insects diversified and provides a comprehensive reliable scaffold for future comparative analyses of evolutionary innovations among insects.
Abstract: Insects are the most speciose group of animals, but the phylogenetic relationships of many major lineages remain unresolved. We inferred the phylogeny of insects from 1478 protein-coding genes. Phylogenomic analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequences, with site-specific nucleotide or domain-specific amino acid substitution models, produced statistically robust and congruent results resolving previously controversial phylogenetic relations hips. We dated the origin of insects to the Early Ordovician [~479 million years ago (Ma)], of insect flight to the Early Devonian (~406 Ma), of major extant lineages to the Mississippian (~345 Ma), and the major diversification of holometabolous insects to the Early Cretaceous. Our phylogenomic study provides a comprehensive reliable scaffold for future comparative analyses of evolutionary innovations among insects.
1,998 citations
••
Australian National University1, Technische Universität München2, Zoological Society of London3, American Museum of Natural History4, University of New South Wales5, Royal Botanic Gardens6, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center7, University of British Columbia8, University of Georgia9, Imperial College London10
TL;DR: The results show that the phylogenetic ‘fuses’ leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today’s mammals.
Abstract: Did the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, by eliminating non-avian dinosaurs and most of the existing fauna, trigger the evolutionary radiation of present-day mammals? Here we construct, date and analyse a species-level phylogeny of nearly all extant Mammalia to bring a new perspective to this question. Our analyses of how extant lineages accumulated through time show that net per-lineage diversification rates barely changed across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Instead, these rates spiked significantly with the origins of the currently recognized placental superorders and orders approximately 93 million years ago, before falling and remaining low until accelerating again throughout the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Our results show that the phylogenetic 'fuses' leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today's mammals.
1,994 citations
••
TL;DR: The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of new mutations is a fundamental entity in genetics that has implications ranging from the genetic basis of complex disease to the stability of the molecular clock.
Abstract: The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of new mutations is a fundamental entity in genetics that has implications ranging from the genetic basis of complex disease to the stability of the molecular clock. It has been studied by two different approaches: mutation accumulation and mutagenesis experiments, and the analysis of DNA sequence data. The proportion of mutations that are advantageous, effectively neutral and deleterious varies between species, and the DFE differs between coding and non-coding DNA. Despite these differences between species and genomic regions, some general principles have emerged: advantageous mutations are rare, and those that are strongly selected are exponentially distributed; and the DFE of deleterious mutations is complex and multi-modal.
1,365 citations
••
TL;DR: A survey of published studies of local adaptation found a small negative correlation between a population’s relative fitness in its native environment and its fitness in a foreign environment, indicating weak trade‐offs associated with local adaptation.
Abstract: The long history of reciprocal transplant studies testing the hypothesis of local adaptation has shown that populations are often adapted to their local environments. Yet many studies have not demonstrated local adaptation, suggesting that sometimes native populations are no better adapted than are genotypes from foreign environments. Local adaptation may also lead to trade‐offs, in which adaptation to one environment comes at a cost of adaptation to another environment. I conducted a survey of published studies of local adaptation to quantify its frequency and magnitude and the costs associated with local adaptation. I also quantified the relationship between local adaptation and environmental differences and the relationship between local adaptation and phenotypic divergence. The overall frequency of local adaptation was 0.71, and the magnitude of the native population advantage in relative fitness was 45%. Divergence between home site environments was positively associated with the magnitude ...
1,025 citations
Authors
Showing all 120 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Michael J. Donoghue | 95 | 252 | 36643 |
Susan C. Alberts | 68 | 202 | 14336 |
Adam Eyre-Walker | 67 | 160 | 15181 |
Charles L. Nunn | 65 | 201 | 13113 |
Joel G. Kingsolver | 65 | 158 | 15692 |
J. Chris Pires | 64 | 178 | 16722 |
Gregory A. Wray | 57 | 186 | 13651 |
Tal Pupko | 55 | 134 | 14987 |
Stephen A. Smith | 51 | 148 | 16747 |
Robert Lanfear | 44 | 109 | 16059 |
Uri Gophna | 44 | 165 | 6265 |
Jeffrey K. Conner | 43 | 91 | 7112 |
Allen G. Rodrigo | 42 | 127 | 9436 |
Jonathan L. Payne | 42 | 135 | 6973 |
Alexander Weiss | 40 | 140 | 5539 |