Explanipedia

Night lizards survived the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction near the asteroid impact Open

Chase Doran Brownstein, Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, José D. L. Tufiño, Martha M. Muñoz, Thomas J. Near · 2025

Discovering traits that facilitate survival through mass extinctions is of great interest to scholars of macroevolution. Here, we show that the common ancestry of xantusiid night lizards, a species-poor lineage with conserved anatomy, prec…

High thermal variation in maximum temperatures invert Brett's heat‐invariant rule at fine spatial scales Open

Pol Pintanel, Miguel Tejedo, Urtzi Enriquez‐Urzelai, Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, Martha M. Muñoz · 2025

Discovering how species' thermal limits evolve and vary spatially is crucial for predicting their vulnerability to ongoing environmental warming. Current evidence indicates that heat tolerance is less spatially variable than cold tolerance…

Phylogenomics establishes an Early Miocene reconstruction of reef vertebrate diversity Open

Chase Doran Brownstein, Richard Harrington, Laura R. V. Alencar, David R. Bellwood, J. Howard Choat , et al. · 2025

Oceans blanket more than two-thirds of Earth’s surface, yet marine biodiversity is disproportionately concentrated in coral reefs. Investigating the origins of this exceptional diversity is crucial for predicting how reefs will respond to …

Revisiting Thermal Gradient Experiments: Effects of Thermal Heterogeneity on Salamander Behavior Open

Julia Laterza-Barbosa, Raíssa N. Rainha, A Flores-Guzman, Ting An, Jian Chen , et al. · 2025

Synopsis Thermal gradient experiments are commonly used in studies of ectothermic organisms for a variety of scientific inquiries. Such gradient experiments, performed in the laboratory, are often used to infer the climatic preferences of …

The Andes are a driver of physiological diversity in Anolis lizards Open

Jhan C Salazar, Gustavo A. Londoño, Martha M. Muñoz, Donald B. Miles, María del Rosario Castañeda · 2024

The Andes, with its diverse topography and climate, is a renowned cradle for adaptive radiation, particularly for vertebrate ectotherms such as lizards. Yet, the role of temperature in promoting physiological specialization in the Andes re…

Adaptive Radiation Without Independent Stages of Trait Evolution in a Group of Caribbean Anoles Open

Brooke L. Bodensteiner, Edward D. Burress, Martha M. Muñoz · 2024

Adaptive radiation involves diversification along multiple trait axes, producing phenotypically diverse, species-rich lineages. Theory generally predicts that multi-trait evolution occurs via a “stages” model, with some traits saturating e…

Viviparity imparts a macroevolutionary signature of ecological opportunity in the body size of female Liolaemus lizards Open

Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, Damien Esquerré, Edward D. Burress, Carlos A. Maciel-Mata, Laura R. V. Alencar , et al. · 2024

Viviparity evolved ~115 times across squamate reptiles, facilitating the colonization of cold habitats, where oviparous species are scarce or absent. Whether the ecological opportunity furnished by such colonization reconfigures phenotypic…

Opportunity begets opportunity to drive macroevolutionary dynamics of a diverse lizard radiation Open

Laura R. V. Alencar, Orlando Schwery, Meaghan R. Gade, Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, Eliza Tarimo , et al. · 2024

Evolution proceeds unevenly across the tree of life, with some lineages accumulating diversity more rapidly than others. Explaining this disparity is challenging as similar evolutionary triggers often do not result in analogous shifts acro…

Four-bar Geometry is Shared among Ecologically DivergentFish Species Open

Henry Camarillo, Edward D. Burress, Martha M. Muñoz · 2024

Synopsis Understanding the factors that influence morphological evolution is a major goal in biology. One such factor is the ability to acquire and process prey. Prey hardness and evasiveness are important properties that can impact evolut…

Parameterizing mechanistic niche models in biophysical ecology: a review of empirical approaches Open

Eric A. Riddell, Isabella J. Burger, Tamara L. Tyner-Swanson, Justin Biggerstaff, Martha M. Muñoz , et al. · 2023

Mechanistic niche models are computational tools developed using biophysical principles to address grand challenges in ecology and evolution, such as the mechanisms that shape the fundamental niche and the adaptive significance of traits. …

Assessing hybrid vigour using the thermal sensitivity of physiological trade‐offs in tiger salamanders Open

Isabella J. Burger, Evin T. Carter, Lexie M. Magner, Martha M. Muñoz, Michael W. Sears , et al. · 2023

Hybridization between species affects biodiversity and population sustainability in numerous ways, many of which depend on the fitness of the hybrid relative to the parental species. Hybrids can exhibit fitter phenotypes compared to the pa…

Evolution of a Model System: New Insights from the Study of Anolis Lizards Open

Martha M. Muñoz, Luke O. Frishkoff, Jenna E. Pruett, D. Luke Mahler · 2023

Following decades of intensive study, Anolis lizards have emerged as a biological model system. We review how new research on anoles has advanced our understanding of ecology and evolution, challenging long-standing paradigms and opening n…

A latitudinal gradient of deep-sea invasions for marine fishes Open

Sarah T. Friedman, Martha M. Muñoz · 2023

Although the tropics harbor the greatest species richness globally, recent work has demonstrated that, for many taxa, speciation rates are faster at higher latitudes. Here, we explore lability in oceanic depth as a potential mechanism for …

High thermal variation in maximum temperatures invert Brett’s heat-invariant rule at fine spatial scales Open

Pol Pintanel, Miguel Tejedo, Urtzi Enriquez‐Urzelai, Martha M. Muñoz · 2023

Sheet 1 Raw data (Author´s order) CTmax and CTmin Sheet 2 Mean, variance and variance ratios of CTmax and CTmin of large and local spatial scale studies (Figure 3 entries order)

Material properties of skin in the flying snakeChrysopelea ornata Open

Sarah B. Dellinger, Raffaella De Vita, Pavlos P. Vlachos, Martha M. Muñoz, John J. Socha · 2022

In snakes, the skin serves for protection, camouflage, visual signaling, locomotion, and its ability to stretch facilitates large prey ingestion. The flying snakes of the genus Chrysopelea are capable of jumping and gliding through the air…

Functional Trade-Offs Asymmetrically Promote Phenotypic Evolution Open

Edward D. Burress, Martha M. Muñoz · 2022

Trade-offs are thought to bias evolution and are core features of many anatomical systems. Therefore, trade-offs may have far-reaching macroevolutionary consequences, including patterns of morphological, functional, and ecological diversit…

Exceptional parallelisms characterize the evolutionary transition to live birth in phrynosomatid lizards Open

Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, Fausto R. Méndez‐de la Cruz, Norma L. Manríquez‐Morán, Mark E. Olson, Patricia Galina‐Tessaro , et al. · 2022

Viviparity, an innovation enhancing maternal control over developing embryos, has evolved >150 times in vertebrates, and has been proposed as an adaptation to inhabit cold habitats. Yet, the behavioral, physiological, morphological, and li…

Phylogenetic inference of where species spread or split across barriers Open

Michael J. Landis, Ignacio Quintero, Martha M. Muñoz, Felipe Zapata, Michael J. Donoghue · 2022

Significance Geography molds how species evolve in space. Strong geographical barriers to movement, for instance, both inhibit dispersal between regions and allow isolated populations to diverge as new species. Weak barriers, by contrast, …

The Effect of Thermally Robust Ballistic Mechanisms on Climatic Niche in Salamanders Open

Sarah T. Friedman, Martha M. Muñoz · 2022

Synopsis Many organismal functions are temperature-dependent due to the contractile properties of muscle. Spring-based mechanisms offer a thermally robust alternative to temperature-sensitive muscular movements and may correspondingly expa…

Thermal–metabolic phenotypes of the lizard Podarcis muralis differ across elevation, but converge in high-elevation hypoxia Open

Brooke L. Bodensteiner, Eric J. Gangloff, Laura Kouyoumdjian, Martha M. Muñoz, Fabien Aubret · 2021

In response to a warming climate, many montane species are shifting upslope to track the emergence of preferred temperatures. Characterizing patterns of variation in metabolic, physiological and thermal traits along an elevational gradient…

The Macroevolutionary Consequences of Niche Construction in Microbial Metabolism Open

Djordje Bajić, María Rebolleda‐Gómez, Martha M. Muñoz, Álvaro Sánchez · 2021

Microorganisms display a stunning metabolic diversity. Understanding the origin of this diversity requires understanding how macroevolutionary processes such as innovation and diversification play out in the microbial world. Metabolic netw…

Awards, Scholarships, and Grants Awarded at the SICB Meeting in January 2021 Open

Karel F. Liem, Amanda Palecek, Dorothy Skinner Award, Anusha Shankar, Liming Cai , et al. · 2021

Ecological Limits on the Decoupling of Prey Capture and Processing in Fishes Open

Edward D. Burress, Martha M. Muñoz · 2021

Synopsis Ray-finned fishes have two jaw systems, the oral and pharyngeal jaws, which perform functions associated with prey capture and processing, respectively. The structural independence of the jaw systems is recognized as having broad …

Age-specific survival and reproductive rates of Mediterranean monk seals at the Cabo Blanco Peninsula, West Africa Open

Pablo Fernández de Larrínoa, J.Dennis Baker, MA Cedenilla, AL Harting, MO Haye , et al. · 2021

We provide the first complete set of survival rate estimates for the Endangered Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus from birth into adulthood, as well as the first age-specific reproductive rates for the species. From 2002 to 2016, w…

Exceptional parallelisms characterize the evolutionary transition to live birth in phrynosomatid lizards Open

Saúl F. Domínguez‐Guerrero, Fausto Méndez-De La Cruz, Norma L. Manríquez‐Morán, Mark E. Olson, Patricia Galina‐Tessaro , et al. · 2021

Viviparity is an evolutionary innovation that enhances maternal protection of developing embryos relative to egg-laying ancestors. The behavioral, physiological, morphological, and life history pathways underpinning this innovation, howeve…

Weak Relationships Between Swimming Morphology and Water Depth in Wrasses and Parrotfish Belie Multiple Selective Demands on Form–Function Evolution Open

Henry Camarillo, Martha M. Muñoz · 2020

Synopsis Mechanical tradeoffs in performance are predicted to sculpt macroevolutionary patterns of morphological diversity across environmental gradients. Water depth shapes the amount of wave energy organisms’ experience, which should res…

The Future is Bright for Evolutionary Morphology and Biomechanics in the Era of Big Data Open

Martha M. Muñoz, Samantha A. Price · 2019

In recent years, the fields of evolutionary biomechanics and morphology have developed into a deeply quantitative and integrative science, resulting in a much richer understanding of how structural relationships shape macroevolutionary pat…

The Evolutionary Dynamics of Mechanically Complex Systems Open

Martha M. Muñoz · 2019

Animals use a diverse array of motion to feed, escape predators, and reproduce. Linking morphology, performance, and fitness is a foundational paradigm in organismal biology and evolution. Yet, the influence of mechanical relationships on …

Physiological evolution during adaptive radiation: A test of the island effect inAnolislizards Open

Jhan C Salazar, María del Rosario Castañeda, Gustavo A. Londoño, Brooke L. Bodensteiner, Martha M. Muñoz · 2019

Phenotypic evolution is often exceptionally rapid on islands, resulting in numerous, ecologically diverse species. Although adaptive radiation proceeds along various phenotypic axes, the island effect of faster evolution has been mostly te…

Janzen’s Hypothesis Meets the Bogert Effect: Connecting Climate Variation, Thermoregulatory Behavior, and Rates of Physiological Evolution Open

Martha M. Muñoz, Brooke L. Bodensteiner · 2019

Understanding the motors and brakes that guide physiological evolution is a topic of keen interest, and is of increasing importance in light of global climate change. For more than half a century, Janzen’s hypothesis has been used to under…

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