Notes from a snail island: Littorinid evolution and adaptation

Abstract

The most successful study systems are built on a foundation of decades of research on the basic biology, ecology and life history of the organisms in question. Combined with new technologies, this can provide a formidable means to address important issues in evolutionary biology and molecular ecology. Littorinid marine snails are a good example of this, with a rich literature on their taxonomy, speciation, thermal tolerance and behavioural adaptations. In August 2017, an international meeting on Littorinid evolution was held at the Tj€ arn€ o Marine Research Laboratory in Western Sweden. In this meeting review, I provide a summary of some of the exciting work on parallel evolution, sexual selection and adaptation to environmental stress presented there. I argue that newly available genomic resources present an opportunity for integrating the traditionally divergent fields of speciation and environmental adaptation in Littorinid research.

Editorial 2019

“…A meeting review of a symposium on "Detecting the Genomic Signal of Polygenic Adaptation and the Role of Epistasis in Evolution" (Csilléry, Rodriguez‐Verdugo, Rellstab, & Guillaume, ) highlighted the often‐complex genetic underpinnings of evolution. Two other meeting reviews also highlighted the important role of genomic data in unifying previously distinct and diverse fields of study, including an international meeting on Littorinid evolution (Ravinet, ) and the Wild Animal Models Bi‐Annual Meeting in Quebec (Morrissey et al, ). This unifying feature of DNA sequence data is being discussed more and more frequently, suggesting that the field of Molecular Ecology is becoming increasingly successful as an interdisciplinary approach.…”