Fifteen shades of green: The evolution of Bufotes toads revisited.

The radiation of Palearctic green toads (Bufotes) holds great potential to evaluate the role of hybridization in phylogeography at multiple stages along the speciation continuum. With fifteen species representing three ploidy levels, this model system is particularly attractive to examine the causes and consequences of allopolyploidization, a prevalent yet enigmatic pathway towards hybrid speciation. Despite substantial efforts, the evolutionary history of this species complex remains largely blurred by the lack of consistency among the corresponding literature.

The neutral-niche debate: a philosophical perspective.

Ecological communities around the world are under threat while a consensus theory of community structure remains elusive. In the last decade ecologists have struggled with two seemingly opposing theories: niche-based theory that explains diversity with species’ differences and the neutral theory of biodiversity that claims that much of the diversity we observe can be explained without explicitly invoking species’ differences. Although ecologists are increasingly attempting to reconcile these two theories, there is still much resistance against the neutral theory of biodiversity.