Benjamin M. Moran
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View article: Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish
Insertion of an invading retrovirus regulates a novel color trait in swordtail fish Open
For over a century, evolutionary biologists have been motivated to understand the mechanisms through which organisms adapt to their environments. Coloration and pigmentation are remarkably variable within and between species and can serve …
View article: Admixture Mapping Reveals Evidence for Multiple Mitonuclear Incompatibilities in Swordtail Fish Hybrids
Admixture Mapping Reveals Evidence for Multiple Mitonuclear Incompatibilities in Swordtail Fish Hybrids Open
How barriers to gene flow arise between closely related species is one of the oldest questions in evolutionary biology. Classic models in evolutionary biology predict that negative epistatic interactions between variants in the genomes of …
View article: Ecological and evolutionary insights into the diversification of Atlantic bluefin tuna
Ecological and evolutionary insights into the diversification of Atlantic bluefin tuna Open
SUMMARY Identifying and preserving biological diversity is fundamental for the management of wild populations. The Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ; ABT) is a vital species to the North Atlantic Ocean ecosystem that is now reboundi…
View article: Increased rates of hybridization in swordtail fish are associated with water pollution
Increased rates of hybridization in swordtail fish are associated with water pollution Open
The nature of reproductive barriers which separate species is a fundamental question of evolutionary biology. Such barriers may be sensitive to environmental conditions, and recent research has documented an increasing number of cases wher…
View article: Pervasive gene flow despite strong and varied reproductive barriers in swordtails
Pervasive gene flow despite strong and varied reproductive barriers in swordtails Open
The evolution of reproductive barriers leads to the formation of new species. However, recent research has demonstrated that hybridization has been pervasive across the tree of life even in the presence of strong barriers. Using swordtail …
View article: Admixture mapping reveals evidence for multiple mitonuclear incompatibilities in swordtail fish hybrids
Admixture mapping reveals evidence for multiple mitonuclear incompatibilities in swordtail fish hybrids Open
How barriers to gene flow arise between closely related species is one of the oldest questions in evolutionary biology. Classic models in evolutionary biology predict that negative epistatic interactions between variants in the genomes of …
View article: Improving the Resident Interview Process with Structural and Statistical Bias Correction
Improving the Resident Interview Process with Structural and Statistical Bias Correction Open
Background: Several studies have questioned the reliability of the interview process in predicting resident success. Objective: Statistical analysis of the resident interview structure might guide process improvements and increase the vali…
View article: Structural genomic variation and behavioral interactions underpin a balanced sexual mimicry polymorphism
Structural genomic variation and behavioral interactions underpin a balanced sexual mimicry polymorphism Open
How phenotypic diversity originates and persists within populations are classic puzzles in evolutionary biology. While balanced polymorphisms segregate within many species, it remains rare for both the genetic basis and the selective force…
View article: Hybridization in the Anthropocene – how pollution and climate change disrupt mate selection in freshwater fish
Hybridization in the Anthropocene – how pollution and climate change disrupt mate selection in freshwater fish Open
Chemical pollutants and/or climate change have the potential to break down reproductive barriers between species and facilitate hybridization. Hybrid zones may arise in response to environmental gradients and secondary contact between form…
View article: Complex structural variation and behavioral interactions underpin a balanced sexual mimicry polymorphism
Complex structural variation and behavioral interactions underpin a balanced sexual mimicry polymorphism Open
Summary How phenotypic diversity originates and persists within populations are classic puzzles in evolutionary biology. While polymorphisms hypothesized to be under balancing selection segregate within many species, it remains rare for th…
View article: Pervasive gene flow despite strong and varied reproductive barriers in swordtails
Pervasive gene flow despite strong and varied reproductive barriers in swordtails Open
One of the mechanisms that can lead to the formation of new species occurs through the evolution of reproductive barriers. However, recent research has demonstrated that hybridization has been pervasive across the tree of life even in the …
View article: eriqande/rubias: v0.3.3 on CRAN
eriqande/rubias: v0.3.3 on CRAN Open
Made a few tweaks so that it could be reinstated on CRAN
View article: Replay across Experiments: A Natural Extension of Off-Policy RL
Replay across Experiments: A Natural Extension of Off-Policy RL Open
Replaying data is a principal mechanism underlying the stability and data efficiency of off-policy reinforcement learning (RL). We present an effective yet simple framework to extend the use of replays across multiple experiments, minimall…
View article: Score-based generative models learn manifold-like structures with constrained mixing
Score-based generative models learn manifold-like structures with constrained mixing Open
How do score-based generative models (SBMs) learn the data distribution supported on a low-dimensional manifold? We investigate the score model of a trained SBM through its linear approximations and subspaces spanned by local feature vecto…
View article: SkillS: Adaptive Skill Sequencing for Efficient Temporally-Extended Exploration
SkillS: Adaptive Skill Sequencing for Efficient Temporally-Extended Exploration Open
The ability to effectively reuse prior knowledge is a key requirement when building general and flexible Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents. Skill reuse is one of the most common approaches, but current methods have considerable limitation…
View article: NeRF2Real: Sim2real Transfer of Vision-guided Bipedal Motion Skills using Neural Radiance Fields
NeRF2Real: Sim2real Transfer of Vision-guided Bipedal Motion Skills using Neural Radiance Fields Open
We present a system for applying sim2real approaches to "in the wild" scenes with realistic visuals, and to policies which rely on active perception using RGB cameras. Given a short video of a static scene collected using a generic phone, …
View article: Complex hybridization between deeply diverged fish species in a disturbed ecosystem
Complex hybridization between deeply diverged fish species in a disturbed ecosystem Open
Over the past two decades researchers have documented the extent of natural hybridization between closely related species using genomic tools. Many species across the tree of life show evidence of past hybridization with their evolutionary…
View article: Imitate and Repurpose: Learning Reusable Robot Movement Skills From Human and Animal Behaviors
Imitate and Repurpose: Learning Reusable Robot Movement Skills From Human and Animal Behaviors Open
We investigate the use of prior knowledge of human and animal movement to learn reusable locomotion skills for real legged robots. Our approach builds upon previous work on imitating human or dog Motion Capture (MoCap) data to learn a move…
View article: Predictability and parallelism in the contemporary evolution of hybrid genomes
Predictability and parallelism in the contemporary evolution of hybrid genomes Open
Hybridization between species is widespread across the tree of life. As a result, many species, including our own, harbor regions of their genome derived from hybridization. Despite the recognition that this process is widespread, we under…
View article: Two new hybrid populations expand the swordtail hybridization model system
Two new hybrid populations expand the swordtail hybridization model system Open
Natural hybridization events provide unique windows into the barriers that keep species apart as well as the consequences of their breakdown. Here, we characterize hybrid populations formed between the northern swordtail fish Xiphophorus c…
View article: The genomic consequences of hybridization
The genomic consequences of hybridization Open
In the past decade, advances in genome sequencing have allowed researchers to uncover the history of hybridization in diverse groups of species, including our own. Although the field has made impressive progress in documenting the extent o…
View article: A Lethal Genetic Incompatibility between Naturally Hybridizing Species in Mitochondrial Complex I
A Lethal Genetic Incompatibility between Naturally Hybridizing Species in Mitochondrial Complex I Open
The evolution of reproductive barriers is the first step in the formation of new species and can help us understand the diversification of life on Earth. These reproductive barriers often take the form of “hybrid incompatibilities,” where …
View article: Two new hybrid zones expand the swordtail hybridization model system
Two new hybrid zones expand the swordtail hybridization model system Open
Natural hybridization events provide unique windows into the barriers that keep species apart as well as the consequences of their breakdown. Here we characterize hybrid populations formed between the northern swordtail fish Xiphophorus co…
View article: The evolution of microendemism in a reef fish (<i>Hypoplectrus maya</i>)
The evolution of microendemism in a reef fish (<i>Hypoplectrus maya</i>) Open
Marine species tend to have extensive distributions, which are commonly attributed to the dispersal potential provided by planktonic larvae and the rarity of absolute barriers to dispersal in the ocean. Under this paradigm, the occurrence …
View article: Congeneric variability in lifespan extension and onset of senescence suggest active regulation of aging in response to low temperature
Congeneric variability in lifespan extension and onset of senescence suggest active regulation of aging in response to low temperature Open
Lifespan extension under low temperature is well conserved across both endothermic and exothermic taxa, but the mechanism underlying this change in aging is poorly understood. Low temperature is thought to decrease metabolic rate, thus slo…