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Talking Evolution

26-28 September 2018
Europe/Berlin timezone
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Contribution List

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1. Welcome Address
26/09/2018, 13:40
2. Keynote: The Extended Synthesis: A Human Evolution Perspective
Kevin Laland
26/09/2018, 14:00

This talk will have two parts. In the first, I will provide a brief general introduction to the logic and objectives of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). I will describe why it was proposed, how it can be of service, and why expanded inheritance, developmental bias, plasticity and niche construction were selected as foci. I will go on to briefly sketch what it is about each of these...
3. Conditions for evolution by natural selection and niche construction
Liz Pasztor
26/09/2018, 15:30

Lewontin`s (2010) four metaphor-free conditions for evolution explain neither diversification nor niche construction in themselves. Adding two more assumptions – one about the necessity of regulated population growth (“limitedness”) and another about the constraints on emerging variations (“interdependence”) – may explain both. Model-independent derivation of the conditions for competitive...
4. Perspectives on programmed cell death in microbial communities: group selection, niche construction and phenotypic plasticity
Pierre Durand
26/09/2018, 15:45

Programmed cell death (PCD) increases the fitness of multicellular organisms via tissue homeostasis and organismal development. In unicellular organisms, however, PCD takes on additional evolutionary significance because the cell is the organism. Here, the definition of ‘true’ PCD in unicells as “an adaptation to abiotic and biotic environmental stress” is adopted and justified with empirical...
5. Let the concept of eco-evolutionary feedbacks be mechanistic!
Blake Matthews
26/09/2018, 16:00

Feedbacks between heritable trait change and the dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems are central to evolutionary ecology. Models of these feedbacks require a strong understanding of the ecological dynamics of natural selection, and the effects of trait distributions on these dynamics. Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to study feedbacks that vary in their...
6. Discussion Niche Construction/ Ecological Adaptation
Arina Maltseva (Poster), Christoph Gahr (Poster), Karina Vanadzina (Poster), Kevin Laland (discussion panel)
26/09/2018, 16:15

Mini-Talks of poster presenters Karina Vanadzina, Arina Maltseva, Christoph Gahr
7. Toward a mechanistic theory of adaptive evolution
Franjo Weissing
26/09/2018, 17:30

Evolutionary predictions can only be as good as the models on which they are based. Traditionally, evolutionary models are kept as simple as possible, with the idea that simple models are more easily tractable and that their conclusions are more general and robust. These models tend to focus on how selection acts on the phenotype and on the phenotypic response patterns to environmental...
8. Speciation and reproductive isolation: who is the first in ecology driven divergence
Arseniy Lobov
26/09/2018, 17:45

At the sea shores of the European part of Northern Atlantic, periwinkles of the genus Littorina (subgenus Neritrema) are represented by two sister groups of closely related species: “obtusata” (L. obtusata, L. fabalis) and “saxatilis” group (L. saxatilis, L. arcana, L. compressa). Moreover, most of the species, especially, L. saxatilis, tend to form ecotypes along shore’s ecological gradient....
9. Male mate choice and sexual selection
Ingo Schlupp
26/09/2018, 18:00

A vast majority of studies in sexual selection focus on only two mechanisms, male -male competition and female choice. Yet clearly, both male mate choice and female competition are important factors in sexual selection. I will review this – with a focus on male mate choice -, using Livebearing fishes of the family Poeciliidae as an example. There are surprisingly many examples of male mate...
10. Keynote: The role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptation and population persistence in new environments
Luis-Miguel Chevin
27/09/2018, 09:00

Phenotypic plasticity, once a somewhat controversial topic in evolution, is now more broadly recognized as an important mechanism by which organisms can tolerate variable environments and avoid extinction. In particular, it is now understood that phenotypic plasticity does not necessarily counteract evolution by natural selection, and that investigating the origins of phenotypic diversity...
11. Local adaptation and the macroevolutionary dynamics of phenological plasticity
Stephen De Lisle
27/09/2018, 10:15

Theory predicts that adaptive plasticity in fitness-related traits may play a key role in establishment in novel environments, persistence in changing environments, and allopatric speciation. Yet testing these hypotheses is difficult, especially at the macroevolutionary level, due to the inherent difficulty of measuring plasticity. We exploit recent methodical advances to estimate the strength...
12. A classifying framework that clarifies the different routes towards adaptive evolution
Pim Edelaar, Pim Edelaar
27/09/2018, 10:30

Evolutionary adaptation is typically accredited to natural selection. However, natural selection can only adapt populations, and by itself has little to offer to locally maladapted individuals. Because of this, flexible individual responses have evolved that can help individuals to increase their fitness. By means of a simple yet apparently comprehensive classification framework, I will derive...
13. Evolutionary implications of plasticity: insights from wall lizard embryos
Nathalie Feiner
27/09/2018, 10:45

Gene expression is inherently plastic, and the expression profiles of ectotherm embryos differ substantially between incubation temperatures. We used an experimental approach to understand the relationship between short-term plastic responses and long-term evolutionary responses in transcriptomes. Wall lizards have been introduced to the UK numerous times over the last century, and several...
14. Keynote: Eco-Devo Insights to Evolution: A Case Study in 3 Big Questions
Sonia Sultan
27/09/2018, 11:15

Our understanding of adaptive evolution is grounded in a deterministic view of genetic variants. Yet development takes shape through the interaction of an organism’s genotype with its environment, an interaction that can be surprisingly complex both within and across generations. How does this causal entanglement change our view of evolution? Ecological developmental biology explicitly...
15. Adaptation without selection: possible explanations
Andrei Granovitch
27/09/2018, 13:30

Term “adaptation” means a feature or set of features making organism fitting to its environment. Adaptation as a process (making an organism adapted) is traditionally interpreted as being inextricably linked with action of natural selection (NS) as a main forming force during speciation. Nevertheless, there are at least two conceivable explanations of the fact of “organism to environment...
16. Selection on function-valued traits: thermal plasticity and thermal canalization in the wild
Erik Svensson
27/09/2018, 13:45

Phenotypic plasticity and its converse (canalization) have been subject to many theoretical and empirical studies. Theory suggests that adaptive phenotypic plasticity can evolve in temporally or spatially heterogeneous environments through selection on the slopes or intercepts of reaction norms. For instance, Lande (2009, J. Evol. Biol. 22: 1435-1446) modelled reaction norm evolution following...
17. Discusson/ mini-talks Phenotypic Plasticity
Daniel Romero Mujalli (Poster), Helen Spence-Jones (Poster), Luis-Miguel Chevin (discussion panel), Rienk Fokkema (Poster), Sonia Sultan (discussion panel)
27/09/2018, 14:00

With mini-talks by poster presenters Rienk Fokkema, Daniel Romero Mujalli, Helen Spence-Jones, Mark Chapman
18. Keynote: Butterfly eyespots and exploring developmental bias
Paul Brakefield
27/09/2018, 15:15

Bias in how development generates a morphology can in theory constrain the independent evolution of traits sharing ontogenetic pathways, making certain evolutionary changes more likely than others. The eyespots on butterfly wings are classic examples of serially repeated pattern elements and have been a focus for evo-devo research over recent decades. Previous work on a model species of...
19. A meta-analytical study of the concordance of plastic and evolutionary responses
Reinder Radersma
27/09/2018, 16:00

Developmental bias is the non-random generation of phenotypes as a result of developmental processes; making some (combinations of) phenotypes more likely than others. Developmental bias is clearly widespread, but there is little insight in the generality of the patterns, nor in their evolutionary consequences. Here, we take a meta-analytical approach and test whether environmentally induced...
20. The role of developmental plasticity in the evolution of crypsis in a freshwater isopod
Moritz Luerig
27/09/2018, 16:15

Natural selection and phenotypic plasticity can both contribute to ecologically relevant trait variation within and among populations. Previous work suggests that variation in cryptic pigmentation of freshwater isopods (Asellus aquaticus) has evolved in response to predation pressure by fish in habitats with varying macrophyte cover and coloration. However, more recent evidence suggests that...
21. Discussion/ mini-talks Developmental Bias
Edith Invernizzi (poster), Joanna Summers (poster), Michael Barnett (poster), Miguel Gomez (poster), Paul Brakefield (discussion panel)
27/09/2018, 17:00

With mini-talks by poster presenters Joanna Summers, Michael Barnett, Miguel Gomez and Edith Invernizzi
22. Keynote: Role of epigenetic variation in adaptation
Ilkka Kronholm
28/09/2018, 09:00

Recent experiments have shown that spontaneous epigenetic variation exists. This means variation in heritable epigenetic changes that behave in a manner analogous to genetic variation. Currently this sort of variation is best understood for DNA methylation in plants. We know that spontaneous DNA methylation changes happen, and the rate of these changes is many orders of magnitude higher than...
23. Why extra-genetic inheritance is a platypus
Irene Adrian-Kalchhauser
28/09/2018, 09:45

...and what we can do about it. In my talk I will take a look at the history of science and outline that extra-genetic inheritance is a classic Duhem-Quine problem. I will explain why the representation of extragenetic inheritance as a fairy-tale organism with apparently incompatible characteristics (like a platypus) can contribute to understanding the current debate about its relevance. I...
24. Spatial heterogeneity induces selection on a system of adaptive epigenetic induction
Philip Greenspoon
28/09/2018, 10:00

Evidence that non-genetic traits can be transmitted to future generations has caused a surge in interest in epigenetic inheritance. If it were found to be common across species that adaptive traits acquired during an organism’s lifetime can be passed on to future generations it would prompt a rethinking of evolutionary theory. Yet solid evidence for epigenetic changes being both adaptive and...
26. Culture and Evolution: Non-genetic inheritance, symbols, traditions and co-evolution in humans and other animals.
Inigo Ongay de Felipe
28/09/2018, 10:45

Much discussion has recently arisen in relation to the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis to the effect that the Weismann barrier between germ and soma may at times be effectively trespassed by processes of trans-generational epigenetic inheritance and non-genetic inheritance. This is extremely significant as the strict separation between soma and germ and thus the prohibition of the Inheritance...
25. Can transgenerational acclimation shift DNA-methylation pattern towards an adaptive state?
Melanie Heckwolf
28/09/2018, 11:00

Melanie J. Heckwolf1, Britta S. Meyer1, Robert Häsler3, Sören Franzenburg3, Christophe Eizaguirre2 and Thorsten B. H. Reusch1 * Both authors contributed equally to this work 1 Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany 2 School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK 3 Institute of Clinical...
27. Discussion/ mini-talks Extra-genetic inheritance
Britta Meyer (poster), Ilkka Kronholm (discussion panel), Mariana Villalba (poster), Sandra Bouwhuis (poster), Thomas Oudman (poster)
28/09/2018, 11:15

Mini talks by poster presenters Britta Meyer, Thomas Oudman, Mariana Villalba
28. Keynote: Extended Heredity and the Extended Synthesis: An attempt to put recent developments of evolutionary theory into perspective
Troy Day
28/09/2018, 13:30

In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that non-genetic forms of heredity exist in a wide variety of organisms. Furthermore, these “extended” forms of heredity can have interesting and important effects on how evolution by natural selection proceeds. Parallel to these findings has been the development of ideas from evo-devo, niche construction theory, and theory related to other...
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