evolution

Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages

Physical structures built by animals challenge our understanding of biological processes and inspire the development of smart materials and green architecture. It is thus indispensable to understand the drivers, constraints, and dynamics that lead to …

sensiPhy: An r-package for sensitivity analysis in phylogenetic comparative methods

Biological conclusions drawn from phylogenetic comparative methods can be sen-sitive to uncertainty in species sampling, phylogeny and data. To be confident about our conclusions, we need to quantify their robustness to such uncertainty. 2. We …

Background noise as a selective pressure: stream-breeding anurans call at higher frequencies

Acoustic signals are an important part in the behaviour of many species and may play a key role in speciation. However, little is known about the importance of natural selection on the evolution of such signals. Acoustics signals are the main …