From low to high gear: there has been a paradigm shift in our understanding of evolution

Abstract

Experimental studies of evolution performed in nature and the associated demonstration of rapid evolution, observable on a time scale of months to years, were an acclaimed novelty in the 1980–1990s. Contemporary evolution is now considered ordinary and is an integrated feature of many areas of research. This shift from extraordinary to ordinary reflects a change in the perception of evolution. It was formerly thought of as a historical process, perceived through the footprints left in the fossil record or living organisms. It is now seen as a contemporary process that acts in real time. Here we review how this shift occurred and its consequences for fields as diverse as wildlife management, conservation biology, and ecosystems ecology. Incorporating contemporary evolution in these fields has caused old questions to be recast, changed the answers, caused new and previously inconceivable questions to be addressed, and inspired the development of new subdisciplines. We argue further that the potential of contemporary evolution has yet to be fulfilled. Incorporating evolutionary dynamics in any research program can provide a better assessment of how and why organisms and communities came to be as they are than is attainable without an explicit treatment of these dynamics.

Evolution, not transgenerational plasticity, explains the adaptive divergence of acorn ant thermal tolerance across an urban–rural temperature cline

“…But what else can we gain from such comparisons? With the growing consensus that evolution can occur in the wild on the scale of human lifetimes (Reznick, Losos, & Travis, 2018), cities might also allow us to peer into the early stages of speciation as differences accumulate among urban and rural populations (Thompson, Rieseberg, & Schluter, 2018 Ecologically divergent environments can also impose reproductive isolation by selecting against migrants and/or hybrid offspring (Nosil, 2004;Nosil, Crespi, & Sandoval, 2003). Local adaptation and divergent selection between urban and rural thermal environments suggest that acorn ant migrants would face negative selection pressures in their non-native habitat.…”

Evolution, not transgenerational plasticity, explains the divergence of acorn ant thermal tolerance across an urban-rural temperature cline

“…But what else can we gain from such comparisons? With the growing consensus that evolution can occur in the wild on the scale of human lifetimes (Reznick et al 2018), cities might also allow us to peer into the early stages of speciation as differences accumulate among urban and rural populations (Thompson et al 2018). Indeed, as Temnothorax curvispinosus populations have evolved divergent thermal tolerances in response to urban heat islands, could this ecologically divergent selection promote speciation as well?…”

Rapid local adaptation to northern winters in the invasive Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus: A moving target

“…However, surveillance and other monitoring strategies, while comprehensive in terms of identifying population dynamics, species composition and diseases vectored during mosquito growing seasons, are not currently designed to detect adaptive changes in mosquitos across seasons. However, rapid adaptation is more common than historically recognized (Carroll, Hendry, Reznick, & Fox, 2007;Egizi et al, 2015;Gilchrist, Huey, & Serra, 2001;Keller & Taylor, 2008;Merckx, Kaiser, & Dyck, 2018;Reznick, Losos, & Travis, 2019;Schoener, 2011;While et al, 2015), and contemporary evolution during invasion is increasingly detected; this could alter predictions about the spatial extent at which surveillance programs should operate (Colautti & Barrett, 2013;Colautti & Lau, 2015;Stuart et al, 2014;Zenni, Lamy, Lamarque, & Porté, 2014). Importantly, whether traits related to invasion and range expansion are adapting rapidly across a broad range of environmental conditions is important to distinguish from local adaptation.…”