Harvard research probes links between natural selection, behavior
For more than a century, scientists have understood that natural selection has profound effects on how an animal looks. Anole lizards that spend more time on the ground, for example, need longer legs for running, while species that remain in the trees usually have shorter legs better suited for climbing. But can different behaviors be favored by natural selection in different environments? Scientists have long believed the answer was yes, but without much backing from empirical data. Now, a paper authored by Oriol Lapiedra demonstrates a link between individual variation in risk-taking behavior and survival of animals in changing environments. Lapiedra worked on the research as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Jonathan Losos while both were still at Harvard. (Losos is now the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and director of its Living Earth Collaborative.) Researchers from the University of Rhode Island, the University...