Editor’s Selection: Amphipod Romance Advice, Criticizing Arsenic Based Life, Coevolution Revisited, and Triple Symbioses
December 9th, 2010 Editor's Selections 7 Comments
Jarrett Byrnes focuses on posts in ecology, environmental sciences, and evolution. He blogs at I’m a chordata, urochordata!
- How do you cuddle your lady right? Ask Smoove A, the Amphipod. Why? Because “Smoove has guarded his ladies to unforeseen heights of evolutionary fitness. Damn.”
- There has been a ton of writing, reviewing, rehashing, reblogging, and reconsideration of said reblogging about the recent discovery of bacteria possibly using arsenic instead of phosphorous in their DNA. Rosie Redfield’s thoughtful piece is a real standout in the fray. She provides an excellent and highly critical take not on the press, but on the science. While there’s much to discuss and debate, this piece is worth a read – the comments as well.
- We all love our stories of two species coevolving – either as mutualists or in an escalating arms race through time. Does coevolution actually promote species diversification, however? Maybe not.
- Speaking of coevolution, let’s revisit the classic Anemone-Clownfish relationship. The classical view is that Anemones give Clownfish a refuge from predators while clownfish chase anemone-snacking fish away. New work shows that Clownfish fertilize the symbiotic algae living inside of Anemones as well. Triple symbiosis For The Win!
