Evolutionary theory articles from across Nature Portfolio

Cooperation is not merely a dyadic phenomenon, it also includes multi-way social interactions. A mathematical framework is developed to study how the structure of higher-order interactions influences cooperative behavior.

Collective cooperation is found across many social and biological systems. Here, the authors find that infrequent hub updates promote the emergence of collective cooperation and develop an algorithm that optimises collective cooperation with update rates.

Hanley et al show that transmission of dengue and Zika virus from Old and New World monkeys is shaped by an immunologically-mediated trade-off between magnitude and duration of replication. Patterns of Zika transmission suggests high risk of spillback into neotropical monkeys.

Bet hedging is an evolutionary strategy facilitating survival in randomly fluctuating environments. Here, the authors report bet hedging in the unicellular microalga Haematococcus pluvialis, undergoing reversible diversification into mobile and non-mobile cells.

A recent study demonstrated the existence of mutations that facilitate access to efficient evolutionary solutions. Here I discuss the implications of this finding and the potential to open a new chapter in the study of evolvability.

A recent work provides a mathematical framework for studying how changes in network structure over time can influence cooperative behavior.

A mathematical model of eco-evolutionary dynamics estimates different birth rates of cells at the periphery of a tumour versus its centre, giving insight into locally stable evolutionary mechanisms that arise as a result of boundary-driven growth.

In social interactions, individuals are often tempted to ‘free ride’ (benefit without paying) on other group members’ contributions. A new mathematical framework suggests a strategy based on cumulative reciprocity that can help to sustain mutual cooperation.

Fitness landscapes were described almost a century ago as smooth surfaces with peaks and valleys that are difficult to navigate. Now, more realistic high-dimensional genotype–phenotype maps show that fitness maxima can be reached from almost any other phenotype while avoiding fitness valleys, which are very rare.

Genomics analyses of the Streptococcus pneumoniae pangenome show that gene essentiality depends on genetic context and can evolve over time.