Updated, 2010.06.30: Publish in haste, revise at leisure. I’ve gone back and added some links to original papers mentioned in the talks, and a note on another talk I meant to include (the first in the list, now).
And again, 2010.07.02: Added a specific link to the EvoDevoGeno audiocast, and to Vincent Calcagno’s professional page.
The final day of Evolution 2010 featured a fantastic series of talks in the ASN Young Investigators Symposium, and marked the premiere of the iEvoBio sister conference, which ran concurrently today. Perhaps not surprisingly, the #ievobio tag quickly outran the #evol2010 tag on Twitter.
I’m ending the conference with a final wrap-up audiocast with the crew from Evolution, Development, and Genomics, and then hopefully a quick run before the closing banquet.
A western bluebird arrives at its nest box. Photo by kevincole.- Vincent Calcagno used adaptive dynamics models of a victim-exploiter coevolutionary relationship (think predator and prey, or host and parasite) to show that rapidly-evolving victims were not always able to escape their exploiters [$a].
- Joel McGlothlin demonstrated how testosterone’s influence on dark-eyed junco males’ aggressiveness and parental contributions produces alternate strategies for fitness [PDF]: either be a good father, or sire more chicks.
- Marc Johnson presented evidence that species of evening primrose which evolve asexual reproduction are less able to defend against herbivory [PDF], but also more likely to form new species.
- Renee Duckworth described how the availability of nesting sites—these days, usually human-made nest boxes—determines whether Western bluebirds are selected to move away from the site of their birth [PDF], and that female bluebirds can manipulate their sons’ likelihood of doing so. She also demonstrated that bluebirds are exceptionally photogenic.
Primary literature referenced
Calcagno, V., Dubosclard, M., & de Mazancourt, C. (2010). Rapid exploiter‐victim coevolution: The race is not always to the swift. The American Naturalist DOI: 10.1086/653665
Duckworth, R., & Kruuk, L. (2009). Evolution of genetic integration between dispersal and colonization ability in a bird. Evolution, 63 (4), 968-77 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00625.x
Johnson, M., Smith, S., & Rausher, M. (2009). Plant sex and the evolution of plant defenses against herbivores. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 106 (43), 18079-84 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0904695106
McGlothlin, J., Jawor, J., & Ketterson, E. (2007). Natural variation in a testosterone‐mediated trade‐off between mating effort and parental effort. The American Naturalist, 170 (6), 864-75 DOI: 10.1086/522838