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DATA SUPPLIED. "Here, we show that the phenotypes of Hieracium pilosella hybrids can be fixed across generations by apomixis." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215015766 View in LinkedIn

TO BE DETERMINED. "Phenotypic plasticity may not be the only mechanism enabling clonal invaders to colonize widely, and the role of somatic mutations and epigenetic variation would be worth investigating in the future." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

NEEDS DATA. "Hence, it is far from clear whether genetic fixation by apomixis suffices to fix the agriculturally relevant phenotypes of F1 hybrids, in particular because hybridization was recently shown to induce epigenetic changes." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215015766 View in LinkedIn

PHENOTYPIC COMPENSATION. In clonal plants lacking genetic diversity, "phenotypic plasticity is thought to play a major role in enabling populations to cope with environmental heterogeneity." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

SMALL PROBLEM. "Traits (phenotypes) do not only result from a complex combination of genetic and environmental variation but can also be influenced by epigenetic variation, which can be transgenerationally heritable in plants." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215015766 View in LinkedIn

LITTLE DIVERSITY. "Many clonal species are highly successful plant invaders, and, in some cases, their populations seem to contain little if any genetic diversity." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/29/8859.full View in LinkedIn

THE GENETIC CONFIRMATION. "Modern evolutionary theory and empirical research in genetics have consistently reaffirmed the ability of conventional population genetics to explain the origin of new species and phenotypes, and simultaneously exposed flaws in the alternatives." http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-012-9209-0 View in LinkedIn

NO SUSPENDED DISBELIEF. "A hopeful monster is an individual phenotypically discontinuous from the range of phenotypes of its population, and whose hopes of establishing a new lineage lie in finding a novel niche for which its monstrosity happens to be preadapted. Such a mechanism of speciation was criticized early for being so improbable as to “overtax one’s credulity” because of the rarity of the initial mutation of large effect, and the resulting improbability of finding an equally monstrous mate." http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-012-9209-0 View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTION BY LUCK. "Goldschmidt proposed that a novel phenotype (such as insect wings, a character associated with higher level taxonomy) must first arise as an instantaneous product of a single “macromutation” or “systemic mutation”. Individuals bearing such macromutations were characterized as “hopeful monsters” by Goldschmidt to emphasize that their appearance is neither purposeful nor gradual, and their prospects for success are a matter of luck." http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-012-9209-0 View in LinkedIn

MACROMUTATIONS. "Some theorists have invoked special phenomena such as genome-wide “macromutations” or “genetic revolutions” to get around perceived difficulties with the emergence of profound change as the accumulation of subtle changes by the conventional dynamics of mutation, gene flow, drift and selection." http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11692-012-9209-0 View in LinkedIn