ArticleNature communications2022
General statistical model shows that macroevolutionary patterns and processes are consistent with Darwinian gradualism.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Distinct constraints but shared dynamics shape the macroevolution of volatile organic compound chemodiversity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Rate Incongruences in Squamates Reveal Contrasting Patterns of Evolutionary Novelties and Innovation.Systematic biology · 2026Article
- Life history optimization and the macroevolution of mammal body size.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Neural crest cell biology shapes lizard skull evolution across evolutionary time scales.Evolution letters · 2026Article
- A Test of the Adaptive Lag Hypothesis of the Evolution of Cancer Suppression and Lifespan in Dog Breeds.Genes · 2026Article
- Quantitative-genetic analysis of directional adaptation suggests low maximum sustainable rates of change in agreement with data from field populations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Multi-response phylogenetic mixed models: concepts and application.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Trait macroevolution in the presence of covariates.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The diffused evolutionary dynamics of morphological novelty.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The complete mitogenome of Amazonian Brachyplatystoma filamentosum and the evolutionary history of body size in the order Siluriformes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Evolution of sexual size dimorphism in tetrapods is driven by varying patterns of sex-specific selection on size.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Co-evolutionary dynamics of mammalian brain and body size.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Rapid adaptation of cellular metabolic rate to the MicroRNA complements of mammals and its relevance to the evolution of endothermy.iScience · 2024Article
- Primate social organization evolved from a flexible pair-living ancestor.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Brain Evolution in the Times of the Pandemic and Multimedia.European neurology · 2024Review
- Evaluating the Accuracy of Methods for Detecting Correlated Rates of Molecular and Morphological Evolution.Systematic biology · 2023Article
- The macroevolutionary dynamics of mammalian sexual size dimorphism.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- A novel method for identifying key genes in macroevolution based on deep learning with attention mechanism.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life.Science advances · 2023Article
- Conceptual and empirical bridges between micro- and macroevolution.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Review
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Macroevolution posed difficulties for Darwin and later theorists because species' phenotypes frequently change abruptly, or experience long periods of stasis, both counter to the theory of incremental change or gradualism. We introduce a statistical model that accommodates this uneven evolutionary landscape by estimating two kinds of historical change: directional changes that shift the mean phenotype along the branches of a phylogenetic tree, and evolvability changes that alter a clade's ability to explore its trait-space. In mammals, we find that both processes make substantial independent contributions to explaining macroevolution, and are rarely linked. 'Watershed' moments of increased evolvability greatly outnumber reductions in evolutionary potentials, and large or abrupt phenotypic shifts are explicable statistically as biased random walks, allowing macroevolutionary theory to engage with the language and concepts of gradualist microevolution. Our findings recast macroevolutionary phenomena, illustrating the necessity of accounting for a variety of evolutionary processes simultaneously.
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