Differences in the relative diversification rates of species with variant traits are known as species selection. Species selection can produce a macroevolutionary change in the frequencies of traits by changing the relative number of species possessing each trait over time. But species selection is not the only process that can change the frequencies of traits, phyletic microevolution of traits...

Artificial selection of microbial ecosystems for their collective function has been shown to be effective in laboratory experiments. In previous work, we used evolutionary simulation models to understand the mechanistic basis of the observed ecosystem-level response to artificial selection. Here we extend this work to consider artificial ecosystem selection as a method for evolutionary optimisa...

Reserve selection methods are often based on information on species’ occurrence. This can be presence–absence data, or probabilities of occurrence estimated with species distribution models. However, the effect of the choice of distribution model on the outcome of a reserve selection method has been ignored. Here we test a range of species distribution models with three different reserve select...

The author proposes a new categorization of selection based upon the method of origination of the species. Proposed is the classification of independently-originating species (integrative selection) and dependency-induced species (competitive selection). The supporting arguments are included and well as examples of how such a classification system works and why it is a more evolutionary reveali...

Natural selection is crucial for the adaptation of populations to their environments. Here, we present the first global study of natural selection in the Hominidae (humans and great apes) based on genome-wide information from population samples representing all extant species (including most subspecies). Combining several neutrality tests we create a multi-species map of signatures of natural s...

A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how natural selection has shaped patterns of genetic variation across genomes. Studies in a variety of species have shown that neutral genetic diversity (intra-species differences) has been reduced at sites linked to those under direct selection. However, the effect of linked selection on neutral sequence divergence (inter-species difference...