Among recent studies of parallel and convergent evolution, appreciation is growing for the ubiquity and importance of non-parallelism, or variation in the extent of parallelism due to differences in the direction or magnitude of divergence among ecotype pairs. In this talk, I’ll first discuss a recent review of studies of parallel evolution in fishes with the goal of determining just how parallel is parallel evolution? Next, I’ll explore two potential drivers of non-parallelism, sexual selection and evolutionary history, in two salmon species. Finally, I’ll briefly outline our NCEAS SASAP working group project on declines in salmon size and age in Alaska. Overall, I hope to highlight the variable extent of parallelism in studies of ostensibly parallel evolution and the value of investigating sources of variation among evolutionary replicates.
Speaker: Krista Oke