title: Losing Complexity: The Role of Simplification in Macroevolution.
abstract: Macroevolutionary patterns can be produced by combinations of diverse and even oppositional dynamics. A growing body of data indicates that secondary simplifications of molecular and cellular structures are common. Some major diversifications in eukaryotes have occurred because of loss and minimalisation; numerous episodes in prokaryote evolution have likewise been driven by the reduction of structure. After examining a range of examples of secondary simplification and its consequences across the tree of life, we address how macroevolutionary explanations might incorporate simplification as well as complexification, and adaptive as well as nonadaptive dynamics.
authors.affiliation: UMR5164, University of Bordeaux, 146 Rue Léo Saignat, Bordeaux 33076, France. Electronic address: maureen.omalley@u-bordeaux.fr.
authors.forename: Maureen A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK.
authors.forename: Jeremy G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Wideman
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Departament de Genètica, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Pg Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Iñaki
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Trillo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans