American Society of Naturalists

A membership society whose goal is to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance the conceptual unification of the biological sciences.

Highlighted Papers

Why we aren’t lizards: the evolution of endothermy through optimizing life history

Why we aren’t lizards: the evolution of endothermy through optimizing life history

Posted on by Kaleigh Remick, edited by Julia Harencar

Read about “The Evolution of Homeothermic Endothermy via Life History Optimization” by Juan G. Rubalcaba (August 2025)

Why do endotherms spend so much energy? A theoretical model shows that species followed one of two possible evolutionary patches: live fast while spending a lot (homeotherms), live slowly and keep your costs low (heterotherms)

Predator Alerts Before Birth: Lifesaver or a Liability?

Predator Alerts Before Birth: Lifesaver or a Liability?

Posted on by Kate Blackwell, edited by Kaleigh Remick

Read about “Prenatal Cues of Predation Risk Modulate the Lasting Effects of Postnatal Predator Exposure in Gull Chicks” by Susana Cortés-Manzaneque, Sin-Yeon Kim, Jose C. Noguera, Francisco Ruiz-Raya, and Alberto Velando (July 2025)

This study provides strong evidence that prenatal signals of predation risk prepare chicks to cope with predators during their postnatal development, based on findings from a field experiment on the yellow-legged gull

Are absentee parents a result of evolution?

Are absentee parents a result of evolution?

Posted on by Julia M. Dovi, edited by Swapna Subramanian

Read about “A Life History Perspective on the Evolutionary Interplay of Sex Ratios and Parental Sex Roles” by Xiaoyan Long, Tamas Székely, Jan Komdeur, and Franz J. Weissing (Feb 2025)

Till Selection Do Us Part? Testing Sexual Selection’s Role in Speciation

Till Selection Do Us Part? Testing Sexual Selection’s Role in Speciation

Posted on by Pooja Radhakrishnan, edited by Genrietta Yagudayeva

Read about “Evolutionary lability of sexual selection and its implications for speciation and macroevolution” by Matheus Januario, Renato C. Macedo-Rego, and Daniel L. Rabosky (April 2025)

Januario et al. found no correlation between sexual selection intensity & speciation rates or proxy traits (SSD and dichromatism). Because sexual selection intensity has high intraspecific variation and low phylogenetic signal, its macroevolutionary impacts are weak

When It Gets Too Hot, Insects Move Too: New Study on Thermal Preferences

When It Gets Too Hot, Insects Move Too: New Study on Thermal Preferences

Posted on by Patrick T. Stillson, edited by Swapna Subramanian

Read about "Thermal preference plasticity in ectotherms: Integrating temperature affinity and thermoregulation precision" by Gwenaëlle Deconninck, Nicolas Meyer, Hervé Colinet, and Sylvain Pincebourde (Sept 2025)

Trout tales: How stream habitats dictate fish size and survival

Trout tales: How stream habitats dictate fish size and survival

Posted on by Purbayan Ghosh, edited by Genrietta Yagudayeva

Read about “Availability of juvenile refuge habitats explains the dynamics and size structure of cannibalistic fish populations” by Wojciech Uszko, Tobias van Kooten, and Pär Byström (Apr 2025)