"Adaptive Radiation During the Evolution of Complex Multicellularity"
We submitted a perspective this week proposing key mechanisms underpinning the repeated adaptive radiations observed across the five independent origins of complex multicellularity: animals, land plants, fungi, red algae and brown algae. We explore the role of three mechanisms we predict are central to these adaptive radiations: key phenotypic innovations, the consequences of multicellularity on effective population size and neutral evolution, and finally the role of priority effects. This paper was a collaboration amongst Ratcliff Lab members, that I got the privilege to lead to the finish line. We had a lot of fun thinking about these mechanisms and working as a team to write this paper! We hope you will soon get the opportunity to read it in a journal near you!