Publications by authors named "Cole J Thompson"
Evolutionary ecologists aim to explain and predict evolutionary change under different selective regimes. Theory suggests that such evolutionary prediction should be more difficult for biomechanical systems in which different trait combinations generate the same functional output: "many-to-one mapping." Many-to-one mapping of phenotype to function enables multiple morphological solutions to meet the same adaptive challenges.
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- - Parallel evolution, where independent populations develop similar traits due to similar environments, often shows discrepancies in outcomes, suggesting that adaptations can vary due to factors like genetic drift, gene flow, or environmental differences.
- - Research on threespine stickleback fish in lake and stream habitats reveals that differences in environmental conditions within these habitats lead to varied evolutionary paths, which was evident in 16 studied lake-stream pairs.
- - The study found that environmentally similar pairs exhibited more parallel morphological changes, while variations in gene flow affected the degree of divergence, indicating a complex interplay of both adaptive and non-adaptive forces in evolution.