Evolution Letters

Not sure our paper rocks as much as Katharina’s cover illustration, but we’re very delighted it was picked as ‘Editor’s Choice’ on @evolletters.bsky.social!

Check out our cover article by @timjanicke.bsky.social and colleagues about the role of sexual selection in animal speciation. academic.oup.com/evlett/artic.... The beautiful illustration is by Katharina Bóth.

A photo of a heard of 13 Soay sheep on Flat Holm Island, Wales. The sheep are clustered close together, and are a mixture of dark brown and light colors.

An early-life survival and reproductive trade-off shapes selection on body size
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Maria João Janeiro et al.
📷: Sam Whitfield

Text: Society for the Study of Evolution SSE Presidents' Award for Outstanding Dissertation Paper, Deadline January 30. Recent covers of Evolution Letters and Evolution.

Did you publish part of your PhD work in @journal-evo.bsky.social or @evolletters.bsky.social this year? Submit your paper for the SSE Presidents’ Award! Up to two recipients will each present an award talk during the virtual portion of #Evol2026 in May. Deadline: January 30. shorturl.at/CnVo6

Graphic from the paper showing four areas where our understanding of thermal biology can be improved by combining surface (Ts) and/or body (Tb) temperatures with other types of data, such as BMR (“basal metabolic rate”) and ambient temperatures (TA).

Infrared thermography is a useful tool in research on thermoregulation and evolution of heat tolerance
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Erik I Svensson et al.

Live birth in lizards: A process-based model for the roles of temperature, behavior, and life-history To mediate trade-offs between survival and fecundity, multiple groups have independently evolved live birth (viviparity), including 70 transitions in lizar

Check our new paper in @evolletters.bsky.social "Live birth in lizards: A process-based model for the roles of temperature, behavior, and life-history"

In this study, we develop and validate a model capable of accurately predicting gestation length in lizards!

academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

🪰🧪 now out in @evolletters.bsky.social, social environmental effects on Drosophila lifespan and reproductive senescence mean females not males "live fast, die young"! Work led by Lauren Harrison and Tracey Chapman, with @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social, funded by BBSRC @ukri.org doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Gestation length both shapes and is shaped by other life history traits in terrestrial eutherian mammals Abstract. The length of gestation in eutherian mammals, which is key to their reproductive success, is closely connected to other life history traits, body

Gestation length both shapes and is shaped by other life history traits in terrestrial eutherian mammals
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Thodoris Danis et al.

Changes in flexibility but not in compactness underlie the thermal adaptation of prokaryotic adenylate kinases Abstract. Understanding the structural changes that enable enzymes to remain active in extreme thermal conditions is of broad scientific interest for both

Changes in flexibility but not in compactness underlie the thermal adaptation of prokaryotic adenylate kinases
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos, Ilias Patmanidis, Timothy G Barraclough, and Samraat Pawar

Changes in flexibility but not in compactness underlie the thermal adaptation of prokaryotic adenylate kinases Abstract. Understanding the structural changes that enable enzymes to remain active in extreme thermal conditions is of broad scientific interest for both

Changes in flexibility but not in compactness underlie the thermal adaptation of prokaryotic adenylate kinases
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Dimitrios - Georgios Kontopoulos, Ilias Patmanidis, Timothy G Barraclough, and Samraat Pawar

Did you publish part of your PhD work in Evolution or Evolution Letters this year? You may be eligible for this award! Papers must have been included in a 2025 issue to be eligible. Apply by January 30: shorturl.at/CnVo6

@journal-evo.bsky.social @evolletters.bsky.social

Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes Abstract. Fundamental traits of genes, including function, length, and Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content, all vary with gene age. Pleiotropy, where a single ge

Pleiotropy increases with gene age in six model multicellular eukaryotes
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Reese Martin and Ann T Tate

Sexual selection and speciation: a meta-analysis of comparative studies Abstract. Understanding the drivers of biodiversity is a central goal in evolutionary biology. In particular, sexual selection has long been proposed as a

Does #SexualSelection fuel #Speciation?

Our new #meta-analysis of comparative studies finds support for a positive relationship, but the rather moderate global effect suggests it’s not necessarily a dominant force.

doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Horizontal gene transfer, segregation loss, and the speed of microbial adaptation Abstract. Microbial adaptation is driven by the circulation of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) among bacteria. On the one hand, MGEs can be viewed as selfis

Horizontal gene transfer, segregation loss, and the speed of microbial adaptation
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by David V McLeod and Sylvain Gandon

A photo of Cardamine hirsuta showing a bifurcating green shoot with elongated leaves along the ends. A cluster of white flowers is starting to bloom in the middle of the shoot.

Alignment across taxonomic levels in strategies rather than in traits along elevational gradients
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Aaditya Narasimhan & Yvonne Willi

📷: Kevin Thiele

Temperature can reverse sexual conflict, facilitating population growth Abstract. Sexual conflict frequently gives rise to adaptations that increase male reproductive success at the expense of harming females (“male harm”) and

Temperature can reverse sexual conflict, facilitating population growth
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Roberto García-Roa et al.

A water flea of genus Daphnia in lateral view, showing an orange embryo in the brood pouch and greenish digestive tract through its transparent carapace. Credit: WikimediaCommons

Rapid temporal adaptation structures tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria in a natural population of the water flea Daphnia
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Maxime Fajgenblat et al.

📷: Janek Lass

A water flea of genus Daphnia in lateral view, showing an orange embryo in the brood pouch and greenish digestive tract through its transparent carapace. Credit: WikimediaCommons

Rapid temporal adaptation structures tolerance to toxic cyanobacteria in a natural population of the water flea Daphnia
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Maxime Fajgenblat et al.

📷: Janek Lass

Cover of the new issue of Evolution Letters @evolletters.bsky.social featuring our stickleback-tapeworm paper. academic.oup.com/evlett
What happens to immunity and infection prevalence in the 50 years after a host invades a new location

Figure showing the experimental overview as a graphic. Remaining alt text taken from the figure caption in the paper: (A) we sampled flies from six wild orchard populations ranging from Homestead, FL, to Lancaster, MA, and established isofemale lines in the laboratory. (B) We returned to a focal orchard in Media, PA, at early- and late-season timepoints and collected flies to capture evolutionary patterns following winter and summer conditions. (C) We then seeded outdoor mesocosms (N = 9) with an outbred population originating from early-season collections in Media, PA, and sampled flies at the end of summer (mid-season) and fall (late-season) to determine if seasonal patterns are recapitulated in experimental populations controlled for migration, drift, and cryptic population structure. (D) Across each wild or experimental context, we sampled flies, established lines in the lab, completed common garden treatment to remove environmental effects, and scored females for abdominal pigmentation. We also conducted pooled DNA sequencing on additional flies sampled from each population to map genomic patterns for candidate pigmentation SNPs.

How predictably does complex trait adaptation proceed over space and time in wild populations?
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by @skylerberardi.bsky.social, @paulrschmidt.bsky.social et al.

📷: Dr. Rush Dhillon

A photo of a threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a small, elongate fish with iridescent green color along the back and translucent fins.

Dynamics of infection and immunity over 50 years as marine stickleback adapt to freshwater
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Pranav Sriramulu et al.
📷: Gilles San Martin

Illustration of projected changes in leaves. Three possible scenarios are shown as green shoots of different lengths with different densities of projected leaves.

Changes to a leaf trait due to adaptive evolution and plasticity can rescue subalpine populations from the detrimental effects of climate change
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Diane R Campbell, @jellyturtle.bsky.social, and Justin Kipness

Illustration by J. Francis

Illustration of projected changes in leaves. Three possible scenarios are shown as green shoots of different lengths with different densities of projected leaves.

Changes to a leaf trait due to adaptive evolution and plasticity can rescue subalpine populations from the detrimental effects of climate change
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Diane R Campbell, @jellyturtle.bsky.social, and Justin Kipness

Illustration by J. Francis

A photo of prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) in bloom in the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota.

Genetic divergence in population mean fitness is weakly associated with environmental and geographic distance in four prairie perennial forbs
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Anna R Peschel et al.

📷: Mike Budd/USFWS

A photo of prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) in bloom in the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota.

Genetic divergence in population mean fitness is weakly associated with environmental and geographic distance in four prairie perennial forbs
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Anna R Peschel et al.

📷: Mike Budd/USFWS

Rostral (C) and caudal (D) view of volumetric reconstructions of the brains of wild male H. e. venus (left half) and H. chestertonii (right half)

Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude Heliconius butterflies
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by David F Rivas-Sánchez et al.

Rostral (C) and caudal (D) view of volumetric reconstructions of the brains of wild male H. e. venus (left half) and H. chestertonii (right half)

Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude Heliconius butterflies
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by David F Rivas-Sánchez et al.

Editorial: Accountability, voice, and trust - responsible use of GenAI in scientific publishing Over the last few years, the development and rapid advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatG

Many of us are using LLMs in coding and scientific writing. They are very helpful tools, but we need to be thoughtful as we integrate them into our work flows to preserve accountability, voice and trust. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan.... An editorial at @evolletters.bsky.social for discussion:

A photo of Drosophila melanogaster on a leaf.

Continent-wide differentiation of fitness traits and patterns of climate adaptation among European populations of Drosophila melanogaster
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Esra Durmaz Mitchell et al.
Drosophila melanogaster

The evolution of reversible plasticity in stable environments Abstract. Reversible plasticity, i.e., the ability to deconstruct phenotypic specializations based on environmental conditions, is widespread in nature. De

The evolution of reversible plasticity in stable environments
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Now in @evolletters.bsky.social by Nicole Walasek et al.