Biological evolution is the heritable change in characteristics of biological populations over successive generations, driven by mechanisms such as mutation, recombination, genetic drift, gene flow, and natural and sexual selection. It operates through changes in allele frequencies within gene pools, constrained and shaped by developmental, physiological, and ecological contexts. Evolutionary processes generate adaptation, diversification, and extinction, producing hierarchical patterns from microevolutionary shifts within populations to macroevolutionary dynamics among lineages. At the molecular level, evolution involves sequence variation, genomic rearrangements, and changes in gene regulation, which collectively underlie phenotypic diversity and the emergence of complex biological organization.
Many plant species parasitize other plants by latching on and taking the nutrients their hosts need to survive. But sometimes, plants steal more than nutrients; they take genes.
Plants & Animals
Aug 27, 2026
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While extreme weather and habitat changes can spell doom for many native animals, including insects, a different picture has emerged from a new study led by Flinders University. Long-running investigations into Fiji's native ...
Ecology
Aug 25, 2026
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Antarctica is one of the driest, coldest places on Earth. Very little life survives its extremes. In the soils scattered around the frozen ice sheets, however, communities of microbes do survive. And one of the keys to their ...
Ecology
Aug 24, 2026
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12
A study by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and the University of Alcalá offers a new explanation for the decline of African megaherbivores. These ...
Ecology
Aug 20, 2026
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289
100 million years ago, long before human intervention, ancestors of grasses, including wheat, rice and maize, developed "bypasses" in chemical pathways used to create two critical compounds: lignin and starch. These more ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2026
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15
The most prominent difference between human male and female skeletons is the pelvis, which anthropologists often use to determine the sex of ancient remains. Scientists have long believed the human pelvis evolved mainly as ...
Why is there sex—or, more precisely, sexual reproduction? If you're an evolutionary biologist, the answer isn't obvious. Sexual reproduction is biologically costly, requiring not only competition for mates but also the creation ...
Evolution
Aug 20, 2026
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For more than a decade, anglers on Lake Memphremagog—which straddles the Quebec–Vermont border—have been catching brown bullhead catfish marked with distinctive black lesions.
Plants & Animals
Aug 19, 2026
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19
Scientists studying one of nature's greatest reproductive innovations have discovered how some lizards evolved from laying eggs to giving birth to live young. The new research is the first to reveal the evolutionary process ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 19, 2026
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52
Recent advances in our understanding of human evolution challenge the way we currently name and classify our ancestors, according to new research from Monash University. The study, published in the American Journal of Biological ...
Evolution
Aug 18, 2026
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