164 posts · 172,167 views
Mennonite, evolutionary biologist, cat-4 cyclist. Not necessarily in that order.
Denim and Tweed
161 posts
Nothing in Biology Makes Sense!
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- August 14, 2008
- 03:11 PM
- 1,472 views
Michael Phelps is fast, but what's his z-score?
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
Even without following the Olympics in any detail, it's hard not to hear about the success of U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps: a new record for career gold medals won by an athlete in any sport, and new time records for just about every race he swims.
.flickr-photo { }.flickr-frameright { float: right; text-align: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em;... Read more »
Chatterjee, S, & Yilmaz, MR. (1999) The NBA as an Evolving Multivariate System. The American Statistician, 257-262. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2686106
- July 29, 2008
- 11:41 PM
- 1,568 views
Against specialist herbivores, plants give up
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
Plants put up with a lot - everyone wants to eat them! And, basically, there are two ways a plant might respond to being eaten. They can put energy into regrowing bits that get eaten, or they can put energy into making a lot of some nasty chemical, like the milky sap in milkweed. The trouble with the first option is obvious - it doesn't do anything to stop the damage. But the trouble with the... Read more »
A. A. Agrawal, & M. Fishbein. (2008) Phylogenetic escalation and decline of plant defense strategies. PNAS, 105(29), 10057-10060. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0802368105
P.R. Ehrlich, & P.H. Raven. (1964) Butterflies and plants: A study in coevolution. Evolution, 18(4), 586-608. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2406212
- July 23, 2008
- 05:18 PM
- 812 views
"Evolution never takes a vacation"
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
This week's column from Olivia Judson gives some examples of recent, rapid evolutionary change. She cites the evolutionary change seen in the beak size of Darwin's finches [$-a], the flowering time of Californian field mustard [$-a], and the head shape and diet of Croatian wall lizards [$-a], but misses one of my favorite recent cases: the weed Crespis sancta.
This little plant recently moved... Read more »
P. R. Grant. (2006) Evolution of Character Displacement in Darwin's Finches. Science, 313(5784), 224-226. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.1128374
S. J. Franks, S. Sim, & A. E. Weis. (2007) Rapid evolution of flowering time by an annual plant in response to a climate fluctuation. PNAS, 104(4), 1278-1282. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0608379104
A. Herrel, K. Huyghe, B. Vanhooydonck, T. Backeljau, K. Breugelmans, I. Grbac, R. Van Damme, & D. J. Irschick. (2008) Rapid large-scale evolutionary divergence in morphology and performance associated with exploitation of a different dietary resource. PNAS, 105(12), 4792-4795. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0711998105
P.-O. Cheptou, O. Carrue, S. Rouifed, & A. Cantarel. (2008) Rapid evolution of seed dispersal in an urban environment in the weed Crepis sancta. PNAS, 105(10), 3796-3799. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0708446105
- July 18, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 776 views
Specialization: not always a dead end
by Jeremy Yoder in Denim and Tweed
Tripp and Manos found that some specialized pollination syndromes are dead ends, but one, the hummingbird syndrome, isn't. Hawkmoth- and bat-pollinated species tended to have evolved from ancestors with the bee/insect syndrome, and they seem to be "stuck" once they get there.... Read more »
E Tripp, & P S Manos. (2008) Is Floral Specialization an Evolutionary Dead-End? Pollination System Transitions in Ruellia (Acanthaceae). Evolution, 62(7), 1712-1737. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00398.x
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