An individual-based perspective on macroevolution

考虑一下07：52 Esher到伦敦滑铁卢列车上1500名左右通勤者的体重。体重对健康有许多影响，影响预期寿命和生殖潜力。如果她只考虑他的体重，对面的18石人似乎不是一个理想的捕捉身体健康的易受影响的类型。然而，如果她也看到他有6英尺半高，有运动员的外表（也许他打橄榄球），那么他就成了一个更有吸引力的命题。生物学家经常试图自己理解身高和体重等性状的进化。然而，生存、繁殖和死亡的不是个体特征，而是整个个体。如果一个物种的个体成功了，那么这个物种也会成功。这种联系突出了定义物种的特征之间的联系，物种内的进化和新物种的形成是进化生物学的关键部分，但其中很多数据是罕见的。为了理解它，我们需要研究不同环境中物种之间的竞争。我们还需要一次又一次地对种群中的个体进行采样，以了解这些压力是如何随着时间的推移而变化的，只有化石记录才能直接证明历史上的物种群体以及它们在漫长的时间里是如何变化的。生活在世界所有海洋中的单细胞有性生物--单细胞有孔虫--的特殊保存意味着有可能关注突然或逐渐的气候变化，看看哪些群体成功了，更重要的是，哪些群体失败了：竞争和气候变化对新物种的产生和现存物种的灭绝有着非常不同的影响。整个有孔虫化石令人羡慕的保存意味着我可以像科学家们对实验室实验进行采样一样对它们的化石记录进行采样，以了解是什么驱动了进化。在这样做的过程中，我将是第一个使用真实的数据来测试关于个体之间的差异如何影响物种之间的差异的关键假设的人。理解进化是一个基本的问题，特别是在一个对人类引起的威胁做出快速反应的世界里。虽然最近在小规模趋势如何映射到大规模多样性模式方面取得了许多理论进展，但来自真实的数据的证据在很大程度上仍然缺失。大型浮游有孔虫已经存活下来，并适应了持续的气候变化和快速的全球变暖。在每一种情况下，随着新物种的崛起，生物组合在事件发生后发生了很大的变化。从过去到现在，从地方到全球范围的结果不仅将为生物多样性如何达到目前的状态提供新的见解，而且还将导致新的工作，改善对未来前景的预测。

Consider the weights of the 1500 or so commuters onboard the 07:52 Esher to London Waterloo train service. Weight has many health implications, affecting both life expectancy and reproductive potential. The 18 stone man opposite might not seem an ideal catch for a physically-fit impressionable type if she considers only his weight. If, however, she also sees he is 6 and a half feet tall with an athletic appearance (perhaps he plays rugby), then he becomes a much more attractive proposition.Biologists often attempt to understand the evolution of traits like height and weight on their own. It is not individual traits that survive, reproduce and die though, but whole individuals. If the individuals of a species are successful, then the species will be too. The connection highlights the link between the traits that define species, evolution within species and the formation of new species is a key part of evolutionary biology, but one for which lots of data are rare. To understand it, we need to study competition among species in different environments. We also need to sample individuals in populations over and over again to see how these pressures change over time.Only the fossil record can give direct evidence of historical groups of species and how they have changed over vast periods of time. The exceptional preservation of fossilised planktonic foraminifera - single-celled, sexual organisms living in all of the world's oceans - means it is possible to home in on abrupt or gradual climate change, seeing which groups succeed and, importantly, which groups fail: competition and climate change have very different impacts on the generation of new species and the extinction of living ones. The enviable preservation of whole foraminifera as fossils mean I can sample their fossil record in the same way as scientists sample laboratory experiments to see what drives evolution. In doing so, I will be the first to use real data to test key assumptions on how variation among individuals affects variation among species.Understanding evolution is a fundamental concern, especially in a world characterised by rapid responses to human-induced threats. While there have recently been many theoretical advances in how small-scale trends might map to large-scale diversity patterns, evidence from real data is still largely missing. Macroperforate planktonic foraminifera have survived and adapted to ongoing climate change and rapid global warming before. In each instance, assemblages were much altered after the event as new species rose to dominate their biodiversity. Results spanning local to global scales, from the deep past to the present day, will not only provide new insight into how biodiversity arrived at its current state, but will also lead to new work that improves predictions of its prospects in the future.