Month: September 2022

PAVING WAY FOR THE RENAISSANCE. “The consequences of the Black Death pandemic allowed for explorations to occur that contributed to Europe’s emergence into the Renaissance, a turning point in Western thought defined by the revivals of Greek and Roman art and philosophy and by the exploration of ideas. The pandemic greatly contributed to the transformation of Europe’s economic and social systems.” https://lnkd.in/gyBNmBb View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS the vignette on the black death. This apocalyptic plague killed more people than any other in human history. It also destroyed the feudal system, significantly weakened Catholicism, brought better living conditions for the average person, and paved the way for the Renaissance. And it was a selective pressure that weeded out the frail and selected for a stringer genotype that would fare better in future outbreaks and left its mark in the human genome. https://lnkd.in/ganfYRw View in LinkedIn

LIKELY ROADS. "It is far more likely that dioecy has evolved through gynodioecy as an intermediate (the coexistence of females and hermaphrodites) or through androdioecy (the coexistence of males and hermaphrodites). In both cases, the initial step is the establishment of a single mutant form." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

MOST LIKELY ROAD TO DIOECY. "Gynodioecy in plants is far more common than androdioecy and must be considered to be a more likely intermediate step to dioecy than is androdioecy. Dioecious species commonly have gynodioecious relatives." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

FITNESS GAME. "A single gene mutation or cytoplasmic male sterility system generating females (causing male sterility) will spread through a population if mutant plants are fitter than the hermaphrodites." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

MORE COMPLEX ROAD. "The evolution of a gynodioecious population to a dioecious one requires a second mutation, causing female sterility in hermaphrodites and generating males. There is good evidence that increased maleness in the hermaphrodites will be advantageous because of the increased availability of ovules (provided by the females)." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

A NUANCED ROAD. "Although monoecy is a developmental modification rather than a genetic separation as is the case for dioecy, a monoecious population could evolve into a dioecious one through a series of mutations which alter the ratio of male to female flowers." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

AN EXAMPLE. "One of the most interesting examples is that of the wasp pollinated dioecious figs (Ficus spp.) of tropical rain forests. The dioecious species are usually found in the understorey whereas monoecious species inhabit the canopy. The dioecious figs have clearly evolved from monoecious species but the mechanism itself is not clear." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

“HETEROSTYLY is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph. The flower morphs differ in the lengths of the pistil and stamens, and these traits are not continuous.“ https://lnkd.in/dBgeGam View in LinkedIn

"DISTYLY has probably arisen to promote pollen dispersal (and therefore outcrossing) and is often associated with self incompatibility. Specialization of one type for maleness and the other for femaleness may progress to full dioecy." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn