Virtual meeting symposia (June 27-28)

SSE Presidential symposium - ​Promoting a fair and ethical evolutionary biology community: considerations for the conduct of our science

Organizer: Anne Charmantier
​Date: Thursday, June 27th
Schedule: 
9:00 - 9:30 The open science movement: limits of transparency in reducing research waste - Rose O'Dea
9:30-10:00 Upsides and downsides of being an early career whistleblower in a case of data fabrication - Ken A. Thompson
10:00-10:30 Discussion 
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 The fieldwork that we envision: A future of equitable field biology and reciprocity with the local communities - Valeria Ramírez Castañeda
11:30-12:00 Facilitating ethical publishing through collective action - Fernando Racimo
12:00-12:30 Discussion

ASN Vice Presidential Symposium - Quantifying organismal function through time to detect ecological and evolutionary responses to global change

Heterogeneity and seeming unpredictability in phenology, abundance, and distribution responses to global changes is driving a push to understand the underlying organismal mechanisms. The 2024 Vice Presidential Symposium of the American Society of Naturalists aims to catalyze a promising and underutilized approach to solving the problem of unpredictability in climate change biology: repeating experiments or otherwise quantifying organism function through time. Many “historical” physiological, behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary experiments or observations reported in journal articles and elsewhere offer the potential for repeating the data collection to detect ecological or evolutionary responses to climate change. The approach extends beyond resurrection studies, which revive organisms to compare function and performance of modern organisms to their historic counterparts but are severely taxonomically and logistically restricted. The symposium aims to discuss the promise of functional resurveys and highlight exemplar research repeating physiological measurements, behavioral experiments or observations, selection and quantitative genetic experiments, and measurement of ecosystem function.  We also feature novel approaches to infer function from both modern and historic specimens, including temporal genomics, quantifying composition or energy stores, and genomic reconstruction. The research is revealing key organismal mechanisms that mediate responses to global changes and can be accounted for to improve ecological and evolutionary forecasts.
​
Organizer: Lauren Buckley
Date: Friday, June 28th
​Schedule:
9:00-9:30 Introduction to functional resurveys and examples uncovering butterfly ecological and evolutionary responses to climate change - Lauren Buckley
9:30-10:00 Plant viruses and host associations through time in Arctic permafrost - Lucas Braga
10:00-10:30 Evolutionary responses to historic drought across the range of scarlet monkeyflower - Seema Sheth
10:30-11:00 Break
11:00-11:30 Phenological advances in plants and pollinators over a century have implications for interaction persistence - Leana Zoller
11:30-12:00 Of rum and fishes: temporal genomics reveal evolutionary responses to a century of environmental change in the Philippines - Malin Pinsky
​12:00-12:30 Panel Discussion

SSE - W.D. HAMILTON AWARD SYMPOSIUM

The W. D. Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation will be given to a current or very recent graduate student who presents an outstanding talk based on their graduate work at the annual meeting. Finalists will present their talks during the Hamilton Award symposium during the virtual meeting. The application to become a Hamilton award finalist is part of registration for the annual meeting. Applicants must check a box during registration indicating their interest for the Hamilton Award and submit an abstract. For more information, see here.
Organizer: Katy Heath
Date: Thursday, June 27th
Schedule:
1:30-1:45 Immunity in the context of ageing and evolution​ - Saubhik Sarkar
1:45-2:00 Predicting evolution between environments: from E. coli to Ethical discourse - Ana-Hermina Ghenu
2:00-2:15 Evolution of plumage and body size in cooperatively breeding and family living birds - Ruthvik Pallagatti
2:15-2:30 The evolution of same-sex sexual behavior - Brian Lerch
2:30-2:45 Disentangling the evolutionary impacts of relatedness and facultative/obligate life cycles during the transition to multicellularity - Autumn Peterson
2:45-3:30 Break
3:30-3:45 Genetic and maternal determinants of adaptive tail length divergence in tropical and temperate house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) -  Sylvia Durkin
3:45-4:00 Feather microstructures that enhance plumage coloration in tanagers evolve via alternative developmental routes in structurally colored and pigmented feathers - Rosalyn Price-Waldman
4:00-4:15 Evolutionary innovation accelerates morphological diversification in pufferfishes and their relatives - Emily M. Troyer
4:15-4:30 Origin of the London Underground mosquito, Culex pipiens bioform molestus - Yuki Haba
4:30-4:45 Ecological speciation & mitonuclear co-adaptation on elevation gradients - Erik Nelson Kortadler Iverson
4:45-6:00 Break
6:00-6:15 The fingerprints of host-associated selection in the genome of a hypergeneralist parasite - McCall Calvert
6:15-6:30 A pluralistic approach to sex: increased mutation rate and a coevolving parasite maintain outcrossing - Michelle McCauley
6:30-6:45 Evolutionary shift of a tipping point forestalls collapse in a microbial community - Chris Blake
6:45-7:00 Genetic Mechanisms underlying Preference-Performance Mismatches: Insights from a Specialized Native Herbivore on an Invasive Toxic Plant - Nitin Ravikanthachari
7:00-7:15 Testing the influence of historical range expansion on contemporary mating system evolution - ​Mackenzie Urquhart-Cronish

SSB - ERNST MAYR AWARD SYMPOSIUM

The Ernst Mayr Award is given to the presenter of the outstanding student talk in the field of systematics at the annual meetings of the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB). This is SSB's premier award, and is judged by the quality and creativity of the research completed over the course of the student's Ph.D. program. For more information, see here.
Organizer: SSB Awards Director
Date: Friday, June 28th
​Schedule:
1:30-1:45 Comparative Genomics Unlock Ecological Opportunity in a Continental Radiation of Snakes - Leroy Nuñez
1:45-2:00 Leveraging graphical model techniques to study evolution on phylogenetic networks - Benjamin Teo
2:00-2:15 The Fishing Spider Conundrum: Paraphyly and the Restoration of the Family Dolomedidae - Sarah Morris
2:15-2:30 Convergence of glucose and fructose metabolism across multiple evolutions of fruit- and nectar-eating bats - Jerrica Jamison
2:30-2:45 Gondwanan relic or recent arrival? Challenging the systematics and biogeographic origins of Australia’s largest spiders with phylogenomics - Ethan Briggs
2:45-3:00 Museomics Reveals Miocene Origin and Andean Diversification of Eriopis Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera) - Karen Salazar
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30-3:45 Tracing trait evolution through the paths within reticulate phylogenies: merging comparative methods for phylogenetic networks and gene trees - Joshua Justison
3:45-4:00 Rethinking software development for more accessible phylogenomic research and teaching - Heru Handka
4:00-4:15 Phylogenetic Estimates of Shifts in the Tempo of Origination - Bjørn Tore Tore Kopperud
4:15-4:30 Disentangling drivers of evolution in a florally diverse Neotropical plant clade, Hillieae (Rubiaceae) - Laymon Ball
4:30-4:45 The fellowship of mutualisms: macroevolutionary trajectories between ant protection and pollination traits - Amanda Vieira da Silva
4:45-5:00 Unraveling the Paradox of the 'Great Speciators': evolutionary dynamics of a geographic radiation of island kingfishers (Todiramphus) - Jenna McCullough

In-person award symposia (July 26-30)

sse - DOBZHANSKY

asn - eARLY CAREER INVESTIGATOR

ESEB John Maynard Smith Prize and ESEB under-represented ECR achievement award (EUEA)

Magdalena Bohutínská — JMS Prize winner 2024
Emily Roycroft— JMS Prize runner-up 2024
Olivia Harringmeyer— JMS Prize runner-up 2023
Paul Bangura-- EUEA award 2023
Zabibu Kabalika EUEA award 2023
Sofía Barbero EUEA award 2024
Harihar Jaishree Subrahmaniam EUEA award 2024

Thematic symposia (July 26-30)

The 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology will include a number of themed symposia featuring talks selected by the symposia organizers from abstract submissions. Attendees can apply to symposia during submission of their in-person or virtual talks. Note that talks not selected for symposia will automatically be scheduled in the general sessions, so there is no risk involved with choosing to apply to symposia. An abstract is required if you choose to apply to symposia.

Empirical and conceptual insights on the (un)predictability of evolution​

​The ability to make accurate predictions is often taken as a hallmark of strong scientific understanding. How good are we in making predictions about evolution and how can we actually test these predictions? What do we want to predict and how do we generate predictions? What limits our predictability and are these limits inherent or surmountable? And what might we gain by accurately predicting evolution? Our symposium will foster crosstalk among researchers with different perspectives on and approaches to these questions. We are excited to welcome innovative empirical (e.g., large-scale/long-term experimental or novel comparative), theoretical (e.g., synthetic, mathematical), and philosophical contributions, as well as historical perspectives on the (un)predictability of evolution. We further encourage submissions addressing predictability of evolutionary change across all levels of biological organization (e.g., genomic, cellular, morphological, behavioral, ecological communities).

Organizers: Marius Roesti, Brian Langerhans, Jonathan Losos, and Andrew Hendry

Evolution in zoos and conservation breeding programs

There are many monitored ex-situ populations for which evolutionary analysis could assist management practice and reveal interesting evolutionary biology. Advances in sequencing combined with pedigree, phenotype, and life-history data present the opportunity to study genetic drift, gene flow, and adaptation. This symposium will highlight diverse contributions that investigate evolutionary dynamics in conservation breeding programs. Speakers will address topics such as preserving adaptive potential, understanding the implications of gene flow among ex-situ and in-situ populations, and determining the causes and implications of phenotypic change in conservation breeding programs using the latest technology and analysis techniques.

Organizers: Drew Sauve and Ginger Elliott

Evolutionary and ecological consequences of considering the environment as an extended phenotype

​Eco-evolutionary studies have slowly moved from seeing the environment as an extrinsic set of factors imposing constrains and pressures on individual animals to an integrative part of these individuals features. With the development of concepts such as genotype-environment covariance, matching habitat choice, habitat-dependent phenotypic plasticity, niche construction, or individual niche specialization, it is now clear that considering the environment as an individual's extended phenotype will help shed new light on the interactions between individual animals and their environment, and thereby provide a deeper and broader vision of the evolutionary ecology of individual traits. With this symposium, we aim to bring together researchers interested in how to integrate individual environment features to study and explain the maintenance of individual (co)variation in traits and their ecological and evolutionary consequences.

Organizers: Denis Reale and Samantha Patrick

Evolutionary dynamics of animal-microbe symbioses

​Understanding the dynamics of (co-)evolution in animal-microbial symbioses presents significant challenges, primarily attributed to the disparate generation times between animals and bacteria. However, the inherent advantage of shorter generation times in microbes enables them to respond rapidly to environmental changes. Consequently, animal hosts might enhance their adaptability and resilience in the face of global change through symbiotic partnerships with locally adapted microbial communities. We invite abstracts encompassing innovative approaches to study population genetics in symbiont microbial populations and novel findings concerning diversification and adaptation between animal hosts and microbes. By exploring microbial population genetics, we can gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving adaptation and co-evolution within animal-microbial symbiotic relationships.

Organizers: Taichi Suzuki and Corinna Breusing

Evolutionary rescue: theory, data, and pressing applications

Rapid evolution can rescue populations from extinction. In conservation this is desired, in agriculture (pesticide resistance) and medicine (drug resistance) it is often not. To better understand and manage evolution's effect on persistence there has now been nearly 30 years of research under the banner of "evolutionary rescue", ranging from mathematical models to experimental tests to natural observations. The increasing threats of climate change and drug resistance are only accelerating these efforts. In an attempt to unite and propel the growing field of evolutionary rescue, this symposium brings together researchers across basic science, conservation, agriculture, and medicine.

Organizers: Matthew Osmond and Hildegard Uecker

Evolving the publishing ecosystem

​We invite diverse authors, reviewers, and editors to discuss how to effect positive change in modern publishing ecosystems. We welcome evolutionary biologists and colleagues from economics, the history of science, science and technology studies, and social and political sciences, as well as librarians, administrators, and journal managers. The goals are to (1) increase understanding of the history of publishing and current diversity of publishing models, (2) hear experiences from diverse members of our community and general barriers , (3) listen to and develop guidance on choices that authors, editors, reviewers, and others can make to help elicit change, and (4) evaluate and generate recommendations for publishers for equitable engagement with the scientific community. The outcomes of the symposium are intended to help participating societies support members in leaving a healthier and more equitable publishing ecosystem for current and future generations of evolutionary biologists.

​Organizers: Michael Dawson and Liz Alter

A vision of the future: integrating perspectives in the evolution of visual systems

​Sensory systems constitute some of the most important organismal traits due to the many critical links between sensing the environment and fitness-related activities. Image-forming eyes provide the windows into the visual world for most animals, and visual systems exhibit striking diversity at multiple scales. This symposium will bring together researchers addressing the causes of evolution in animal visual systems from diverse perspectives, with special focus on (1) environmental influences on variation in the visual system (e.g. selective agents, proximate effects, genetics vs. plasticity), and (2) studies examining visual acuity and sensitivity (i.e. visual performance). We welcome contributions studying diverse taxa, using different approaches (e.g. comparative/experimental, modeling), and focusing on different scales of analysis (e.g. genetic, anatomical, visual performance) to foster cross-talk amongst researchers and aid in the integrative study of visual-system evolution.

Organizers: Parker Hughes, Matt Walsh, and Kaj Hulthen

Adaptive epigenetics

​The field of evolution is on the edge of a paradigm shift with the incorporation of epigenetic mechanisms changing how we view evolutionary processes. Epigenetics refers to potentially heritable chemical modifications to DNA that can affect how genes function and can be induced by the environment. This paradigm is highlighted by the Unified Evolution Theory (2021), a modification of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis which includes heritable environmentally induced epigenetics. This newly modified theory and specifically the extent to which epigenetics can play a role in species adaptation remains highly debated in some sub-fields but not others. A symposium directly addressing this topic will allow researchers from all areas to learn about the latest advances and evidence (or lack there-of) within evolutionary epigenetics, facilitating debate and knowledge sharing.

Organizers: Hollie Marshall and James Ord

Approaches to DEI initiatives in evolution and systematics for different cultural and national contexts

In this symposium, we seek to showcase the diversity of needs and approaches used in different national and cultural scenarios and across evolutionary biology to increasing and sustaining diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) best practices. The symposium will present experiences from scientists and groups experiencing different DEI needs across the globe, which intrinsically relate and are a consequence of their local, regional, national and continental cultural contexts. Although talks on any field of evolutionary biology will be accepted, those related to the field of systematics will be given priority.

Organizers: Tim Colston, Anahi Espindola, and Jessica Ware

Discussing representativeness and civil protection issues in eco-evolutionary research

​This symposium discusses urgent issues and counteractions in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), focusing on representativeness and civil protections in eco-evolutionary research. Our goal is to bring forward matters faced by social minorities in the eco-evo field and open the debate on how those issues are structured and what the potential solutions are. Feature topics are 1) academic harassment, e.g., from power imbalances and racial/sexual prejudice. As internal procedures often fail to protect the victim, how can support/accountability resources become standardized and accessible? What is the role of institutes, journals, and funding agencies? 2) decolonization and indigenous representation — there is an outsized influence in the sciences by parties that have historically been in power at the expense of local peoples. What helps dismantle this? 3) civil protections. Recent politics have eroded reproductive and LGBTQIAPN+ rights, and mitigation of systemic disadvantage through affirmative action. What are the consequences for eco-evolutionary biology, and means of recourse? Submission on other DEI subjects in need of a platform at the Journal of Eco-Evolutionary Biology (JCEB) is encouraged.

Organizers: Kelley Leung and Camila Beraldo

Are sensory biases likely to be ancestral, prevalent and consequential?

The existence of sensory biases driving the evolution of social signals has been recognised for over three decades. They explain the general features of signals such as ornaments and the relative difficulty of receivers to escape sensory manipulation. The proposed nature of sensory biases suggests 1) that they must be ancestral, while not necessarily universal, within large lineages; 2) that biases should be present in most animal taxa, and 3) that they drive the evolution of social and sexual interactions. The first implication has sometimes been evaluated but mainly at the family level, thus we ignore whether they can be traced to the base of lineages at, and beyond Family or Order. The second implication refers to the general occurrence of biases, and has been not formally tested. The ecological, physiological and evolutionary consequences of sensory biases have been investigated but again only in a relatively small number of taxa. We propose to invite speakers to attempt to define the path to addressing all of these questions more broadly and deeply.

Organizers: Constantino Macias Garcia and Helen Rodd

Biotic interchanges across taxa through molecular and fossil data

​Early in disciplines such as evolutionary biology and biogeography, scientists such as Wallace and Simpson paid special attention to biotic interchanges: movements of species from one biota to another. For example, the high tectonic activity of the Cenozoic caused a rearrangement of landmasses, facilitating the interchange of species from biotas with independent evolutionary histories. This made biotic interchanges to be thought as a key factor shaping the distribution and evolution of global biodiversity. The study of biotic interchanges could also hold key insights for the management and conservation of biota into the future. Despite the importance of biotic interchanges for understanding the assembly of biological communities, studies on biotic interchanges remain scarce. However, the recent availability of fossil records, distribution data, phylogenies and paleoenvironmental reconstructions provide unprecedented opportunities to explore how biotic interchanges shape biodiversity.

Organizers: Octavio Jimenez Robles and Alexander Skeels

The completion of speciation: coupling, persistence and the micro-macro link

​Speciation is central to evolutionary biology. However, major issues remain unresolved concerning the evolution of strong and robust reproductive isolation that leads to the persistence of new lineages over macroevolutionary time scales. Completion of speciation usually involves the coincidence of multiple barriers to gene exchange but many processes can generate this coupling and their contributions are not well understood. Some types of barrier might be critical for lineage persistence: perhaps intrinsic barriers are critical or strong assortative mating is needed to allow coexistence, for example. A wide range of approaches to these issues is needed, ideally covering a diversity of taxa. Therefore, this symposium will welcome contributions from all areas of evolutionary biology, fostering interactions among subfields in order to understand the evolution of strong reproductive isolation and the persistence of lineages across micro to macroevolutionary scales.

Organizers: Roger Butlin and Jonna Kulmuni

The evolution of biological noise

​Phenotypic variation is the substrate for evolution by natural selection. One source of phenotypic variation is biological noise, which can be generated during reproduction (e.g. mutations), or during development (e.g. mistranscription, mistranslation). Critically, the amount of phenotypic variation resulting from biological noise can be under heritable, genetic control. For example, DNA polymerase, RNA-polymerases and ribosomal protein alleles can differ in their accuracy of replication, transcription, and translation, respectively. This fact raises the possibility that the amount of biological noise, and hence, the amount of phenotypic variability in an evolving population may itself be subject to natural selection. This symposium will draw together scientists from evolutionary and population genetics, developmental biology, systems biology, molecular/cellular biology, and digital and experimental evolution whose work pertains to the evolution of biological noise.

​Organizers: Daniel Weinreich and Ignacio Bravo

The evolution of REPRODUCTIVE FLUIDS

​Reproductive fluids are extraordinarily complex. They can comprise hundreds of functionally diverse proteins that evolve rapidly, are vital to fitness, and influence diverse post-mating phenotypes. Recently, reproductive fluid evolution research has progressed rapidly through high-powered ‘omics, gene-editing technology, and conceptual synthesis. There is now an opportunity to bring together these distinct lines of research to address long outstanding questions and generate new lines of inquiry. We propose a symposium that brings together biologists who study reproductive fluids from diverse perspectives, including evolutionary geneticists, behavioural ecologists, and functional and developmental biologists. Key themes include:

• Sexual conflict and cooperation in reproductive fluid evolution
• The genetics of evolutionary change in reproductive fluid-mediated traits
• Coevolution between male and female reproductive tracts
• Advances in reproductive fluid evolution theory
• Reproductive fluid function and evolution in non-model species

Organizers: Ben Hopkins and Jen Perry

The genetic basis of coevolution: beyond the dichotomy of matching alleles and gene-for-gene

​Host-parasite coevolution is often characterized by GxG interactions, where some parasites are more infectious or virulent to some hosts. This specificity has traditionally been captured by two contrasting models of infection genetics: matching alleles (MA) and gene-for-gene (GFG). MA asserts a high degree of specificity, akin to a lock-and-key mechanism, whereas GFG allows for specialism and generalism. Both paradigms have been explored extensively, with contrasting predictions for patterns of diversity across space and time. Yet few empirical systems have infection genetics that closely align to either model, even though many systems are viewed as being "MA-like" or "GFG-like" with little known about alternative models and few links with genomic data. This symposium will bring together data from natural systems, experimental coevolution, and theory to understand coevolutionary genomics and alternatives to the MA-GFG dichotomy across broad taxonomic scales.

​Organizers: Ben Ashby and Ailene MacPherson

The genomics of mate choice

​The genes underlying mate choice have been targets of research for at least two decades. A deeper understanding of the genomics of mate choice promises to resolve the mechanisms of preference evolution and to illuminate the genomic basis of variation in complex behaviors. The study of mate choice has been an interdisciplinary endeavor, leveraging tools from behavioral genetics, quantitative genetics, transcriptomics, molecular biology, artificial selection, population genomics and molecular evolution. The rise of new whole-genome approaches promises unprecedented insights. This symposium will reflect on the current state of the genetics and genomics of the study of mate choice, as the field prepares for a rapid transformation in the coming years, thanks to advances in next-generation genomics tools and novel applications of these tools to this exciting area of inquiry.

​Organizers: Adam Jones and Bernadette Johnson

The interplay between dispersal, plasticity, and adaptation in coping with changing environments

​In response to environmental changes organisms can move, adapt, or adjust. These three strategies have been extensively studied across various species, providing a solid basis to our understanding of the separate contribution of dispersal, adaptation, and plasticity to the maintenance of biodiversity. However, the possible synergies between them and how prevalent they are in the response to stressful environments remains largely unexplored. This symposium aims to bring together researchers working on the interplay between dispersal, adaptation, and plasticity to bridge connections and synergies between these different strategies (e.g. evolution of dispersal or plasticity, dispersal or evolution via plasticity) and build a framework that integrates the contribution of all three. Ultimately, exploring the interconnections between these three strategies can help us to better understand how natural populations cope with changing environments.

Organizers: Ines Fragata, Alexandre Blanckaert, and Elvira Lafuente

Entangled evolution: synergies and trade-offs in correlated adaptations

​The categorization of multiple traits serving a unified function, such as succulence and specialized pollination in plants, flightlessness in birds, and anti-predator strategies in various animals, has been a helpful organizing principle in understanding biodiversity. Insights from studying how these traits convergently assemble and evolve have helped uncover cryptic selection, predict ecological associations, and project responses of traits to ecosystem perturbations. While these multivariate phenotypes, or syndromes, are often thought to be driven by convergent selection in similar ecological conditions, they function as more than the sum of several independent traits. Multiple traits may evolve convergently due to functional or genetic constraints; certain combinations may also generate synergies that are obscure when each trait is expressed separately. It is of timely relevance that we revisit key questions in the evolution of syndromes and map future directions. Here we highlight and synthesize recent advances in the study of trait syndromes, highlight ideas and experimental approaches across systems, address key challenges, and capture the central tenets driving the evolution of the multivariate phenotype.

​Organizers: Xuening Zhang and Anurag Agrawal

From mutation rate to mutations rates: how uncovering mutation rate variation changes our understanding of adaptation

​Mutations are the raw material on which selection acts. Until recently, much of the research focused on genome wide base substitution rate (µ) and the evolutionary forces shaping it. Now, the easier and cheaper access to whole genome sequences and the improvement of genomic analyses allows to better document the variation of the mutation rate across the tree of life, but also to measure the rate of other mutation types, in particular structural mutations. Recently variations of mutation rates and spectrum with environmental factors and genomic context have been unravelled and they are sometimes of greater amplitude than the variation between closely related species. The picture of the evolution of mutation rates and their contribution to adaptation is thus becoming more colorful and complex. We hope to bring together theoretical, genomic, and experimental approaches to integrate the different facets of mutation rate and of its contribution to determining the adaptive paths taken.

​Organizers: Stephanie Bedhomme and Marc Krasovec

Generative A.I. as a powerful new tool for studying evolutionary biology

​Generative approaches in machine learning (ML) are advancing quickly in many domains, allowing rapid creation of novel text (chatGPT), images (Stable diffusion, StyleGAN), and video (Gen AI), capturing the imagination of the public. In evolutionary biology, they have begun to be used for creating valuable synthetic data and enhancing statistical models for complex, high-dimensional data, such as promising new phylogenetic models. Ecologists are using Variational Autoencoders to interpret intricate datasets like global bioclimate, 3D morphology, and species interrelations. In population genetics, Generative Adversarial Networks produce simulated data for validation, ML training, and genomic privacy. Moreover, generative AI can learn latent space representations and estimate evolutionary parameters, simplifying complex biological signals into understandable trends and forecasts. This symposium aims to bring together experts focusing on these generative methods in evolutionary biology.

​Organizers: Russell Dinnage and Sara Mathison

Genetic trade-offs: new approaches to classic problems

​Genetic trade-offs arise when alternative alleles maximise fitness in different contexts. For example, selection can favour opposite alleles in alternative sexes, life stages, spatial or temporal environments, ploidy levels, or social forms (e.g. queen/worker). All these conflicts can both fuel adaptation and create genetic load. Despite recent empirical and theoretical advances, there is little consensus on the expected number of antagonistic polymorphisms, their usual genomic locations, whether they tend to be protein-coding or regulatory, whether they tend to be transient or balanced, or their contribution to additive genetic variance relative to unconditionally deleterious alleles. This symposium aims to promote crosstalk among sub-disciplines focused on these various genetic trade-offs, showcasing novel and interdisciplinary applications of statistical genetics, genomics, and theory that shed new light on this pivotal topic.

​Organizers: Luke Holman and Karl Grieshop

How do multilevel and nonlinear trait architectures shape phenotypic and evolutionary dynamics of plasticity and robustness?

​Organisms commonly respond and adapt to environmental change via polygenic traits whose architectures involve multiple levels of variation (molecular, cellular, physiological, morphological, behavioral, life-history…). Phenotypic outcomes may thus be structured by complex, interacting and nested developmental pathways. Effects of changes in genetic or environmental factors then depend on full genotypic and environmental backgrounds, implying nonadditive variation in robustness and plasticity, and resulting evolvability. Yet, eco-evolutionary theory and analysis still primarily relies on linear representations of genotype-environment-phenotype maps. Here, we will highlight how nonlinearities in multilevel trait architectures constitute pivotal constraints in phenotypic dynamics. To achieve this, we will bring together key aspects of quantitative genetics, development, phenotypic plasticity, and other relevant topics studied theoretically and empirically at various biological scales.

​Organizers: Paul Acker and Rebecca Green

Predicting evolutionary responses to a changing world

​Predicting evolution is both a fundamental test of our understanding of evolutionary processes and a management necessity. Forecasting biodiversity loss depends on accurately projecting how novel environments will disrupt existing adaptation and predicting the capacity for new adaptive responses. New theory and empirical data are needed to build, test, and refine these different areas of prediction. This symposium will bring together researchers working across systems and approaches to share the latest theory, case studies, and critical tests needed to evaluate the potential and limitations of predicting evolution. We welcome theoretical models of evolution in changing environments, genomic forecasting, evolve & resequence experiments, and studies of reaction norms or rapid evolution in wild populations responding to environmental change. The aim is to share new findings and ideas to spur integrative research on how, when, and where we can accurately predict evolutionary responses.

Organizers: Moises Exposito-Alonso, Stephen Keller, Katie Lotterhos, and Seth Rudman

The politics of citation in evolutionary biology

​Citations determine which ideas we support and amplify, or ignore, as a scientific community. Often incorporated into evaluations for tenure, promotion, and funding, citations are among the most valued currency in the academy. As with other forms of knowledge and communication, citations are not free from bias and political agendas. This is especially true in modern evolutionary biology, which is built on foundational theories developed to establish and promote eugenics. While it can be difficult to disentangle the current practical use of these theories and methods from their troubled history, mindful citation provides one mechanism with which we can challenge racist perspectives, leaving more space for traditionally underrepresented perspectives to challenge the status quo with anticolonial, antiracist, and feminist methodology that can move the field forward, yield new avenues of innovation, and dispel widely-held myths that influence modern public policy.

Organizers: Robert Colautti, Mia Akbar, and Maria Jose Gomez-Quijano

Understanding global change through natural history collections

Natural history collections document species responses to the ongoing global change in real time. Their vast, globally distributed specimens from the last ~300 years are key to understanding if and how species are able to adapt to current and future environmental changes. However, many of these unique time-series data still remain underappreciated and underused. This symposium will (i) highlight the extraordinary value of natural history collections for studying species responses to the ongoing environmental challenges, (ii) showcase the diverse approaches these collections can be interrogated with, from geographic distribution analyses and phenotype measurements, to analyses of biotic interaction variation or evolutionary genomics approaches with ancient DNA, and (iii) catalyze collaborative research across species and collections to accelerate building a more general understanding of the complex changing species interactions and community responses.

​Organizers: Patricia Lang and Oliver Bossdorf

Urban evolutionary ecotoxicology

Urban areas cover around 3% of the world's land surface and are constantly expanding. One of their unique characteristics, compared with any other human-modified ecosystem, is that they concentrate multiple pollutants. This environment impacts organismsal fitness with consequences at the population, community and ecosystem levels, and ultimately affects the evolution of urban wildlife. Studying evolutionary consequences of exposure to pollutants is a prerequisite for understanding urban evolution. In particular, pollutants can affect mutations rate, sexual selection, parental care, epigenetic, or adaptation. In this symposium, we would like to focus on pollutants relevant for urban areas in order to link urban evolutionary biology and evolutionary ecotoxicology. We welcome submissions tackling the evolutionary consequences of pollutants exposure, the effects of pollutants on mechanisms that may have evolutionary implications, or the interaction between pollutants and evolutionary forces.

​Organizers: Josefa Bleu and Marion Chatelain

What we can and cannot know through current and upcoming phylogenetic comparative methods

​A lot of new methods and approaches have been developed in phylogenetic comparative methods during the past decade, but not without criticism and controversy. The phylogenetics community has recognized the need for a consensus on how to meet these issues and challenges. We feel that we are at the cusp of many new directions and innovations emerging, and thus want to invite people to join us and present their insights, cautionary tales, and visions on where the field currently stands. We want to focus not only on the exciting new things we are or will be able to learn, but also identify what is still unknowable to us, and whether and how this may change in the future. The symposium will focus on inference of biological processes; therefore, we welcome submissions from any biological system as well as theory. Our intention is to provide an opportunity for researchers to meet and discuss current challenges and future solutions, coming from macroevolution, epidemiology, or related fields.

​Organizers: Orlando Schwery and Mariana Braga

Within-organism conflicts

​Within-organism conflicts arise when the fitness optima of different organismal parts (genes, chromosomes, genomes, cells) do not align. By now, the threat of selfish genetic elements and selfish cell lineages to the integrity of organisms is well-documented across eukaryotes, but they have been researched piecemeal and so we lack a common framework for their study. What do different within-organism conflicts have in common and how are they managed so that organisms retain their primacy as the ultimate beneficiaries of adaptation? This symposium will explore both the variety of internal conflicts that exist in nature as well as the variety of ways that organisms cope and adapt in the face of pressure from within. We will bring together empirical researchers studying diverse systems with theorists to stimulate interactions, and we will seek general principles underlying the evolutionary causes and consequences of within-organism conflicts. 

​Organizers: J. Arvid Agren and Manus Patten

Challenging the status quo: exploring how species interactions respond to human change

​Humans are a dominant force on earth because we completely transform ecosystems. While these large-scale changes have well-documented effects on where species live (i.e., distributions and abundances), we know less about impacts on more complex processes, such as species interactions and evolution. Species interactions shape ecosystem function and evolutionary pressures, but work examining their responses to human change is largely siloed (e.g., invasion biology) and our ability to predict how biodiversity will respond to anthropogenic change is limited as a result. This symposium will explore how human changes shift interspecific interactions (e.g., competition, hybridization, predation, parasitism) and the eco-evolutionary signatures that result by bridging experimental, comparative, and genomic approaches. Ultimately, we hope to identify critical knowledge gaps and guide future research toward improving our understanding of human impacts beyond the species level.

Organizers: Kathryn Grabenstein and Haley Kenyon

Mitochondrial functional genomics and evolution

​In the last two decades, mitochondrial biology has undergone several paradigm shifts and this symposium will highlight research that best exemplifies these major changes. For example, the mitogenome has been considered evolving neutrally for decades, however, mounting evidence now shows how it is affected by natural selection. Likewise, the mitogenome has been considered for a long time as an evolutionary bystander, sporadically contributing to how organisms evolve. However, recent research shows that mitochondria have a key role in organismal fitness, affecting traits such as fertility, longevity and thermal tolerance. There is also growing evidence that the functional repertoire of the mtDNA has been underestimated. The goal of this symposium is to bring together researchers working on various organisms and aiming to better understand the role of mitochondrial biology in regulating organismal fitness using a wide range of methods, such as experimental biology, genomics or physiology.

​Organizers: Sophie Breton and Andrea Pozzi

On the interplays between developmental bias and selection

​Phenotypic variation is not uniformly distributed among traits, especially due to developmental processes. This unequal distribution of variation leads to biases, which are thought to constrain or facilitate adaptation by making evolution more likely to proceed along certain directions. However, developmental bias can also evolve through natural selection. The relationship between adaptation and developmental bias is therefore the result of a continuous dynamic interaction with feedbacks. What role natural selection plays in shaping developmental bias, and how such bias affects the evolutionary processes, are open questions. We aim to bring together theoretical and empirical studies that 1.Establish the role of developmental bias in shaping pleiotropy, modularity, etc., and consequently,  macro-evolutionary diversification 2. Explore the interactions of developmental bias and selection - how selection shape developmental systems, which in turn, affect long-term evolution.

​Organizers: Diogo Melo and Haoran Cai

Recombination rate variation: causes, consequences and evolution

​Meiotic recombination is a key feature of sex and an important source of genetic diversity. It is often essential for proper chromosome segregation, and allows faster responses to selection by generating novel haplotypes. However, it is also mutagenic and can break up favourable haplotypes, reducing the fitness of subsequent generations. Recombination rates show huge variation within and between chromosomes, individuals, sexes and species, but the causes and consequences of this variation remain poorly understood. Our symposium will bring together biologists working to understand the proximate and ultimate causes of recombination rate variation across the tree of life and its evolutionary consequences. We seek submissions on any topic broadly related to recombination's role in evolution, including theoretical/simulation approaches, methodological advances, field/experimental studies and studies of recombination modifiers (e.g. genetic variants, chromosomal rearrangements).

​Organizers: Kieran Samuk and Susan Johnston

Replicability & reproducibility in ecological & evolutionary research

​​A growing number of fields across the medical & social sciences have identified what's become known as a "crisis of reproducibility", typically manifesting as studies & meta-analyses that point to low reproducibility of key research findings. In one well-known example, an industry lab attempted to replicate 52 important preclinical results of cancer biology and were only able to duplicate key findings in 6 of these. Though evolutionary biology has yet to encounter its own replication crisis, survey data and other information suggest that research practices known to be linked to low reproducibility are probably widespread. This symposium invites diverse perspectives on replicability & reproducibility, open science, the impact of research practices on the reliability of findings, & "meta-science" (the science of science) to help ask if ecology & evolutionary biology is on the cusp of its own replication crisis & what can be done about it.

​Organizers: Shinichi Nakagawa and Liam Revell

Urban evolutionary dynamics and species interactions

​Urbanisation demands organisms rapidly respond to environmental changes including new microclimates, novel stimuli, pollution, unique synthetic habitat, and fragmented natural landscapes. These documented evolutionary changes have impacts beyond the focal species, providing an exciting study question for ecological and evolutionary patterns, processes, and principles. Complicating these “eco-evolutionary feedbacks” is the fact that city landscapes are not randomised, but fundamentally intertwined with human society, politics, and culture. This symposium will highlight how urbanisation influences (1) evolutionary and plastic (mal)adaptive genetic and trait response (e.g. physiological, life-history, morphological, behavioural, reproductive success, survival, phenology), (2) non adaptive evolutionary processes (e.g. gene flow, genetic drift) and (3) how these evolutionary and plastic changes shape species interactions in cities.

Organizers: Elizabeth Carlen, Sarah Hasnain, Samantha Kreling, and Nedim Tuzun

Advances in marine evolutionary biology

​Around 500 million years ago life had not yet colonised land and was exclusively found in the oceans. Despite the rich diversity of life found in our oceans, much has yet to be described and put into an evolutionary context. Practical hurdles of working in the marine environment, as well as the complexity of marine systems, have historically impeded our ability to study them. However, with recent theoretical and technological advancements, these hurdles are diminishing, now allowing for in-detail studies of biological processes such as speciation, local adaptation, connectivity, and genotype-phenotype associations in diverse marine systems. This symposium will broadly feature studies that advance our understanding of these phenomena and their underlying mechanisms. It aims to highlight similarities and interconnections of study systems across different coastlines and oceans, thereby building a base for future collaborations across networks and societies in a world undergoing dramatic change.

Organizers: Pierre De Wit and Ellika Faust

Convergent evolution in natural experiments

​Convergent evolution offers a chance to explore how predictable evolution is under different genomic compositions and similar environmental triggers. Natural experiments with repetitive phenotypic evolution across varied environments allow studying the genomic and ecological mechanisms of convergence without controlled lab settings. This symposium aims to discuss theoretical and experimental concepts and case studies, advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of recurrent evolution in nature. Computational and theoretical methods enhance such knowledge, while transcriptome and genome sequencing provide tools for grasping molecular mechanisms behind convergent adaptations. We will discuss mechanisms like selection on the same gene, parallel amino acid changes, gene duplication, gene transfer and higher-level changes like gene pathways or regulatory elements that drive near-identical phenotypic evolution.

Organizers: Ariadna Morales and Hans Recknagel

Ecology and the evolution of reproductive traits

​It is well established that ecological context is critical for shaping the evolution of ecologically relevant traits such as those controlling resource acquisition. However, despite the key role of reproductive traits for shaping fitness outcomes, less attention has been paid to understanding and synthesizing how ecology influences their evolution. Our symposium will fill this gap by highlighting the role of ecology in shaping the evolution of reproductive traits and welcome research on the impacts of reproductive trait evolution on ecological processes. Research themes could include the plasticity of sexual signals in different ecological contexts, impacts of anthropogenic changes on reproduction, contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits, among many others. By bringing together research on a broad range of taxa and from diverse perspectives, we hope to yield insight into the role of ecology for the evolution of reproductive traits.

​Organizers: Brian Lerch and Sara Flanagan

Interacting in a changing world: the role of phenotypic plasticity in social evolution

Interacting with conspecifics is an important part of an organism's life, often crucial to reproduction and survival. Traits mediating social interactions can have a genetic basis and be under selection, a process known as social evolution. Theory in social evolution has highlighted how interactions can affect the rate of evolution by accelerating or constraining the response to selection. Current models, however, do not yet fully capture the dynamic nature of social interactions: individuals typically differ in social behavior and adjust it to social partners. As a result, we still poorly understand how between- and within-individual variation, which determines heritable variation on which selection can act upon, affects the direction and speed of evolution. This symposium seeks to showcase recent advances in the field, focusing on individuality and plasticity. In doing so we aim to stimulate discussion and identify potential gaps and future directions of research on social evolution.

Organizers: Tom Ratz and Francesca Santostefano

Intraspecific variation and its role in eco-evolutionary dynamics

​Intraspecific diversity has profound consequences for both ecological and evolutionary dynamics. From an evolutionary standpoint, trait variation is intrinsically related to evolutionary potential, and studies in ecology have shown average trait values to be poor predictors of population-level dynamics. In both fields, the question that often arises is how and why trait variation persists, even when the population mean is at the optimum? Perhaps the optimum is variable, leading to fluctuating evolution. Or variance itself beneficial in the context of ecological interactions? We aim to address these questions by gathering theoretical and empirical researchers interested in intraspecific variation. We anticipate a diverse set of speakers who will elaborate on how to accurately estimate variance, how the magnitude of variance in ecological parameters shape population/community dynamics, whether variance is maintained by selection or a consequence of evolutionary constraints, among others.

Organizers: Jessica King, Raul Costa-Pereira, and Diogo Godinho

Socially transferred materials: convergent evolution and molecular biology

​Many organisms have evolved to transfer materials which go beyond gametes, nutrients and microbes. These are defined as socially transferred materials when they are transferred between conspecifics and include components that have been metabolized by the donor and induce a direct physiological response in the receiver, bypassing sensory organs. While these transfers benefit the donor, they can also influence the fitness of the recipient either positively or negatively, i.e. resulting in cooperation or conflict. Examples include milk, seminal fluids, eggs, skin secretions and regurgitate. In this symposium we aim to bring together experts on these and lesser-known socially transferred materials. These materials, and the genes that enable their transfer, provide a new, proximate perspective on convergent molecular evolution of very different transfer systems and is expected to lead to deep insight into ultimate, (social) selection pressures of cooperation and conflict.

Organizers: Joris Koene and Adria LeBoeuf

Synthetic biology meets natural variation: fitness effects in the nature and the lab

​Understanding the fitness effects of mutations central to Evolutionary Biology, attracting much theoretical interest for decades. However, empirical testing of different competing theories was challenging until recently. Over the last decade, technological advances have afforded the means to generate and measure the fitness effects of millions of defined mutants. In parallel, the massive growth of genomic data sets from natural populations has boosted a complementary approach—inferring fitness effects from polymorphism data. Intriguingly, despite some general similarities, these two approaches often yield vastly different estimates of the size and distribution of selection coefficients. We will foster cross-disciplinary dialogue between these two fields. By showcasing prominent examples of each field, we want to spur discussions on the commonalities, differences, challenges and opportunities of these two approaches. Our goal is to build bridges for an integrative view of empirical fitness landscape research to allow for a reconciliation of the differing results and, ultimately, a comprehensive understanding of fitness effects of mutations. 

​Organizers: Suman Das, Thomas Bataillon, and Alejandro Couce

Cancer evolution across scales

​Cancer is both an evolutionary process undergone by somatic cells and an evolutionary trait evolved across the tree of multicellular life; thus, evolutionary theory describes cancer dynamics across scales of biological organization. Across the tree of life, life history theory has provided a rich framework to make testable hypotheses studying the evolution of cancer suppression. Within individuals, new population genetics and phylogenetic methods have enabled the study of ecological and evolutionary dynamics of tumor cells, resulting in a better understanding of cancer progression. Perhaps the most impactful, evolutionary-based treatment strategies are showing very promising results and have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment. This symposium will bring together experts from across disciplines to foster closer integration of these two traditionally separate fields. We invite both methodological and applied research to submit to this symposium.

Organizers: Zachary Compton and Diego Mallo

Coinfections in the light of coexistence theory

​Hosts are often infected by multiple parasites. Evolutionary theory generally predicts that within-host competition among parasites will select for higher growth rates, to overcome competitors, which in turn will select for higher virulence (i.e., parasite-induced host fitness cost). Ecological theory, in turn, predicts that parasites coexist when differences between intraspecific and interspecific competition oe are greater than those in competitive ability between parasites. Thus, coinfections affect parasite traits whereas parasite traits determine the maintenance of coinfections, yet these two directions of causality are addressed in two separate bodies of literature, respectively host-parasite evolutionary theory and coexistence theory. This is unfortunate, as a cross-talk between them may bring both theories to a new level of understanding. This symposium welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions that lie at the intersection between these areas of research.

​Organizers: Sara Magalhaes and Oscar Godoy

Connecting micro- and macroevolution of form and function relationships

​Our proposed symposium will address a major yet unresolved question in evolutionary biology: how can microevolutionary processes affect patterns of diversity across macroevolutionary timescales? In the last decade researchers have increasingly found intraspecific patterns of variation correlated with the rate and direction of morphological divergence over millions of years. These findings highlight that constraints can have a long-term effect and the adaptive landscape both shapes genetic patterns of covariation and directs divergence in species’ means. However, traits that influence fitness through functional performance, such as biomechanical traits, are rarely incorporated into the comparisons between patterns of intraspecific trait covariation and interspecific divergence. Hence, we do not know the role of functional relationships in shaping patterns of intraspecific variation and species divergence.

​Organizers: Monique Nouailhetas Simon and Daniel Moen

Conservation genetics across multiple species

​The resilience of species to survive rapid, human-caused environmental change depends in part on genetic diversity and the speed and magnitude of habitat change. The central importance of genetic diversity is gaining attention in global conservation policy. However, the scale and pace of human-driven environmental change requires us to look beyond targeted, single-species conservation genetics approaches. We must also consider the broad-scale causes and consequences of environmental change acting on the genetic diversity of multiple, interacting species simultaneously. Our symposium brings together research on the effects of rapid environmental change on genetic diversity across species to inform the efforts of global conservation commitments. We are interested in research that focuses on different spatial scales, environmental drivers, and taxonomic groups, and provides clear recommendations to create a strong scientific foundation for conservation management practices.

Organizers: Ruth Rivkin and Chloe Schmidt

Networks in population genetics and phylogenetics: theory, methods and applications

​Historical reticulation events, including recombination, gene flow and hybridization, leave signals in the variation among genomic sequences. Networks, such as ancestral recombination graphs, admixture graphs, and phylogenetic networks, depict these reticulations, showing genealogical relationships between individuals, populations, and species. Genome -wide sequencing and new methodologies now allow for the disentangling of different biological processes at play and the inference of such networks from shallow to deep time scales. This symposium will be a hub for the latest theoretical and methodological advances in robustly inferring networks, as well as a showcase for novel applications. The symposium will highlight advances across network fields and facilitate further crosstalk between them, building on the common mathematical structures they share while acknowledging important biological differences.

Organizers: Cecile Ane, Puneeth Deraje, John Rhodes, and Kristina Wicke