In this episode, the gang
discusses two papers about the long term macroevolutionary effects
of ecological specialization. Is specialization on a specific
ecology an evolutionary dead end? The gang attempts to answer that
question, but they keep getting distracted. Also, James shares life
experiences, Amanda imagines a nightmarish future for James, and
Curt workshops the plot of a new epic animated experience.
References:
Day, Emma H., Xia Hua, and Lindell Bromham. "Is specialization
an evolutionary dead end? Testing for differences in speciation,
extinction and trait transition rates across diverse phylogenies of
specialists and generalists." Journal of Evolutionary
Biology (2016).
Burin, Gustavo, et al.
"Omnivory in birds is a macroevolutionary sink."Nature
Communications 7 (2016).