César Marín

In this @frontiersin.bsky.social in #Ecology & #Evolution review we compile 280 studies showing empirical evidence of natural selection occuring at the levels:

- Genetic elements
- Nuclei
- Cells
- Clones
- Individuals
- Groups (demes, colonies, agreggates)
- Communities

doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

✨A Special Issue of the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment, linked to #ICOM2026, is now accepting submissions!

🌽The issue will be titled “Mycorrhizas in Ecosystems”

🍄Abstracts due: 30 April
🌻Full articles due: 31 October

Submit here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...

Website under construction!

In this website, we will develop the concepts and results of the following scientific article:- Marín, C., Clark, A.B., Philson, C.S., Eldakar, O.T., Wade, M.J. 2026. Abundant empirical evidence of multilevel selection revealed by a bibliometric review. Frontiers in…

Constanza is my third bachelor thesis student who finished her thesis with the highest grade possible and with a WoS paper published before finishing. Cherry on the cake: already with a permanent job.

Couldnt be more proud!

How an underground fungal map of one of the world’s oldest, slowest-growing rainforest trees can boost the resilience of Earth’s long-term carbon sinks?

New paper in Biodiversity and Conservation about our first expedition to the Chilean Coast Range: buff.ly/CumRGpU

New paper out!
Lead by @camilletruong.bsky.social & with @spun.earth #FungiFoundation in Biod Conserv:

“Large-diameter trees disproportionately contribute to soil fungal diversity in a coniferous forest with one of oldest living trees on Earth”.

@tobykiers.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1007/s105...

3 great news:
- We have started our SOCBIO-MAP project fund. by European Space Agency.
- Tomorrow a very nice paper in collab/funded by SPUN will appear in Biod. Conserv. We now know about the mycorrhizas of one of the oldest trees in 🌍
- Ill give a talk in Harvard on Wednesday

Clonal-aggregative multicellularity tuned by salinity in a choanoflagellate - Nature The choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms motile and contractile cell monolayers purely clonally, purely aggregatively or through a combination of both processes depending on environmental conditions.

A study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪

Join us as Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Computational Biology at Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) / @leidenscience.bsky.social / @unileiden.bsky.social

Application deadline on 15 March 2026
👇
careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Assistan...

Dame Anne Pringle elected Chancellor of the University of St Andrews | University of St Andrews news Dame Anne, a trailblazing diplomat who was formerly British Ambassador to Moscow, won a majority of support in an election also contested by Dame Barbara Woodward, Lord Mark Sedwill, and Lady Alex Walmsley.

Two days ago, Dame Anne Pringle was elected Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

She is the first female Chancellor in the university's 600+ year history.

#education #highered #AcademicSky #EduSky

Organisms are not machines.

This should be mainstream thought in ecology, Evolution, genetics, physiology, and so on.

Sadly it seems like we are not there yet.

The fact this is not mainstream thought in the biological sciences shows the bad situation we still are in!

February, 2026 – Mycorrhizal picks (2025) By: César Marín On this new section of our blog, in my capacity of Editor of about seven journals, I am posting what I call: “César Marín’s mycorrhizal picks”, where I list scient…

I estimate over 1000 Mycorrhizal Research papers are published each year. It is impossible to keep up! However I try. For @southmycorrhiza please find a list of my Mycorrhizal picks for 2025! Tons of exciting research in ecology, agriculture, Evol., etc!

southmycorrhizas.org/reading/febr...

Evolution Is Not Just About Survival of the Fittest Individual In the 1990s, an agricultural scientist named William Muir set out to breed better egg-laying hens. His approach seemed obvious: pick the most productive

Is not often you find good science blogs. This one is as it reflects pretty well our @frontiersin.bsky.social Ecol Evol paper: “Abundant empirical evidence of multilevel selection revealed by a bibliometric review”, from discussing Muir’s poultry work to yeasts!

scienceblog.com/evolution-is...

To understand mycorrhizas and mycorrhizal functioning I have been reaching out to colleagues working with very different systems.

One of the most toxic features in academia is over-specialization. Otherwise wonderful thinkers become zealots.

phys.org/news/2026-02...

Adaptation in Metapopulations All organisms live in clusters, but such fractured local populations, or demes, nonetheless maintain connectivity with one another by some amount of gene flow between them. Most such metapopulations o...

My senior co-author Mike Wade first prove it on his PhD thesis published in PNAS in 1976.

This book summarizes 40 years of his fantastic work in Chicago and Indiana:

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Really enjoyed watching this paper unfold. The idea that selection operates at multiple levels is fascinating, controversial and difficult to test. But not untestable nor untested. César and colleagues show this well!

Beyond ’survival’ of the fittest: Evolution works in teams - Binghamton News Review of scientific studies shows that natural selection operates on multiple levels

Press release by @binghamtonu.bsky.social about our @frontiersin.bsky.social in #Ecology & #Evolution rev: “Abundant empirical evidence of multilevel selection revealed by a bibliometric review”.

Natural selection operates from molecules to ecosystems.

#MLS

www.binghamton.edu/news/story/6...

Maarja Öpik stands next to the President of Estonia, holding her Order of Merit.

New Phytologist's Editor-in-Chief, Maarja Öpik, received the Order of Merit from the Estonian President on Saturday: www.delfi.ee/artikkel/120...

Congratulations Maarja!

I LOVE this paper by Lisa Lloyd. It makes all the difference in the world to ask first: “Does this trait has a function?” and not only: “What is the function of this trait?”.

In current day trait ecology, adaptationism is live and well, unfortunately.

85,000 metagenomes reveal Earth’s hidden microbiome network: 40 habitat clusters found to be shaped by hosts and environment.

“Generalist” microbes bridge ecosystems, moving genes (including antibiotic resistance) across the planet 🌏🧪🌐🦠

#ComplexSystems

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

#transgenerational transmission of a core #microbiome that protects against downy mildew from soil to #phyllosphere

Fantastic and important study by @jellespooren.bsky.social @rlberendsen.bsky.social
@cornepieterse.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
#plantscience

Prominent climate scientist argues it's time to ditch the 'myth of neutrality' | CBC Radio Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe talks to Bob McDonald about the polarization of science and why she thinks scientists should stop pretending to be neutral when it's our planet at risk.

“Scientists should stop trying to be neutral and instead embrace their values,”says a group of top climate scientists, including @katharinehayhoe.com. The neutrality myth is harming the reputation of science right when we need it most.” #ClimateCrisis

Science isn’t neutral. It’s science.

Myth of the Genetic Blueprint | Broadcast Life isn't constructed along pre-drawn plans. It grows.

“If a single animal can have several different genomes at once, which one is the blueprint? This may not even be the right question to ask...” Intriguing jumping-off point for a superb piece on why our favourite metaphors fail to capture biology; @elisecutts.bsky.social in @pioneerwork.bsky.social
🧪

🧵 🚨 Our new paper is out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social
#Ecology and #Evolution. 🎉 🥳 🙌

For decades, many textbooks & papers have claimed that group or multilevel selection lacks empirical evidence.

We decided to test that claim.
Here’s what we found 👇

doi.org/10.3389/fevo...

9 (Extra): Check Appendix 1 where we show that multilevel selection & inclussive fitness are not mathematically equivalent as it is said in the literature.

Marín et al. 2026: “Abundant empirical evidence of multilevel selection revealed by a bibliometric review”.

8/ It is time to move past the old debates and focus on what the evidence actually shows.

Evolution isn’t only about individuals.
Groups matter too.

/ Our conclusion:
The idea that multilevel selection lacks empirical support is no longer tenable.
The data show that selection regularly acts at multiple levels at once.

7/ If we ignore multilevel selection, we risk misunderstanding:
• Cooperation
• Multicellularity
• Microbiomes
• Culture

• Genetic elements
• Nuclei
• Cells
• Communities
• Species
Selection doesn’t happen at just one level.

5/ And the field is accelerating fast.
Out of the 280 studies we found:
199 were published since 2012.
The evidence has been piling up—quietly.

3/ The evidence comes from both:
• 100 field studies in natural populations
• 180 controlled lab experiments

Different organisms. Different methods. Same conclusion.

4/ Most studies found selection among organismal groups (colonies, demes, agreggates).

But others detected it at the level of: