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Shared by ENSI Co-Directore Craig Nelson This is almost a short course on major recent developments: Henry Gee, Rory Howlett and Philip Campbell. 2009. 15 Evolutionary Gems: A resource from Nature for those wishing to spread awareness of evidence for evolution by natural selection. http://www.nature.com/nature/newspdf/evolutiongems.pdf "Reasons why scientists can treat evolution by natural selection as, in effect, an established fact" (Editorial. Nature Jan 20, 2009) For the editorial introduction, visit: Fossil record: 1 Land-living ancestors of whales (ungulates); 2 From water to land (Tiktaalik); 3 The origin of feathers (Epidexipteryx, a small downy dinosaur); 4 The evolutionary history of teeth (mouse molars); 5 The origin of the vertebrate skeleton (neural crest & fossils). From habitats: 6 Natural selection in speciation (stickleback body size);7 Natural selection in lizards (predators & behavior); 8 A case of co-evolution (Daphnia; virulence & revivable fossils); 9 Differential dispersal in wild birds (great tits); 10 Selective survival in wild guppies (rare colors better); 11 Evolutionary history matters (moray eel's throat jaws v suction). Molecular processes: 12 Darwin's Galapagos finches (gene activity & beak shape); 13 Microevolution meets macroevolution (gene cooption in Drosophila); 14 Toxin resistance in snakes (v newts) and clams (v red tides); &15 Variation versus stability ("most genes hold variation in reserve that is released only when they are functionally compromised"). [NOTE: Links for free downloads of the underlying
scientific abstracts and papers: good for figures overheads and
deeper understanding!] |