'Island' grevillea drifts through time

Genetic testing of the bird-pollinated Grevillea georgeana (Proteaceae) on 'terrestrial islands' in WA has found most are so isolated that their evolution has become driven by genetic drift.

Lack of diversity a weak link for dolphins

Limited gene flow between groups of Australian snubfin and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in WA's north may make them more vulnerable to the environmental impacts of coastal industrial developments.

Common genetic ancestors lived during roughly same time period

Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam—two individuals who passed down a portion of their genomes to the vast expanse of humanity—are known as our most recent common ancestors, or MRCAs. But many aspects of their existence, ...

Bees that go 'Cuckoo' in others' nests

The biota of island archipelagos is of considerable interest to biologists. These isolated areas often act as 'evolutionary laboratories', spawning biological diversity rapidly and permitting many mechanisms to be observed ...

Eyeless Australian fish have closest relatives in Madagascar

A team of researchers from Louisiana State University and the American Museum of Natural History has discovered that two groups of blind cave fishes on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean are each other's closest relatives. ...

Interacting mutations promote diversity

Genetic diversity arises through the interplay of mutation, selection and genetic drift. In most scientific models, mutants have a fitness value which remains constant throughout. Based on this value, they compete with other ...

Trimming the Tree of Life

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a sense, Antonis Rokas is an arborist: He is a member of a small cadre to scientists who are applying the growing power of genomics to untangle and correctly arrange the branches of the Tree of Life.

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