Are the distinctive feet of Bolitoglossa Salamanders the result of natural selection? We covered this information in the last newsletter, but to summarize: Ultimately, we accepted these feet may not be an adaptive trait. But then the question remains, Why do Bolitoglossa salamanders have such distinctive feet? The Spandrels of San Marco If you visit […]
How Bolitoglossa Salamanders got their Feet Read More »
Natural selection. Survival of the Fittest. Darwinian Evolution! Easily the most famous of the 4 evolutionary forces we’ve covered. So famous, I struggled with what to focus this newsletter on.I quickly nixed an email on how the beak sizes of Darwin’s finches are linked to food availability on the Galapagos Islands. It would be review
Did Bolitoglossa Salamanders have an Adaptive Radiation? Read More »
Gene flow is the evolutionary force concerned with the movement of individuals from one population to another. More accurately, it is the movement of genetic material from one population to another. When it comes to evolution, I view gene flow as a “homogenizing force”. In isolation of other forces, higher rates of gene flow cause populations to become more similar
How 2 Immigrants Saved North Americas most Threatened Mammal Read More »
Howdy Biologists! Genetic drift is the evolutionary force closely associated with randomness and probability. In fact, it is the evolutionary force I have been most fascinated by since starting down an evolutionary path! In this email, ill provide a brief overview of genetic drift including relevant examples and additional sources for your self-learning journey! With this and future
What Flour Beetles Reveal About Random Evolution (Drift) Read More »
Happy new year!A time to reflect, look back on the past, and focus on change. A biodiversity lover such as yourself intimately understands what change means in the natural world. When we focus on evolutionary questions, that change is measured in many ways. For example, The amount of gene flow between populations, the degree
Mutation. The weakest evolutionary force? Read More »
4 years ago, I spent my New Years secluded in an East Texas lakeside cabin. It was the perfect opportunity to think about the future. It was there that the first buds of Learn Adventurously developed. In the prior emails, I gave an overview for how Learn Adventurously started, showcased what we offer, and provided
Why did Learn Adventurously move to North Carolina? Read More »
Howdy biologist extra-ordinaires! Dillon here. Over the past few emails, I’ve been describing all that Learn Adventurously does. In-person events that encourage adventurous learning, the creation of donation supported resources in our library, or our ever expanding offering of courses. You can read those past emails in our archive, but I want to get meta for a second. What is this
What is the Learn Adventurously Newsletter Read More »
Howdy, Dillon here. Last week, I told you how Learn Adventurously started with live events aimed at connecting people with biodiversity science. You can read that past newsletter on our email archive. But, that isn’t technically true.Learn Adventurously actually started as a blog. Delivering free information and resources to a small reader base. This blog eventually
Our Resource Library Read More »
One of the first emails I ever sent from Learn Adventurously was for our BioBlitz in 2022. In case you missed it, I ran an international competition encouraging anyone to pull out their phone and record biodiversity to iNaturalist. The twist is that I gamified the observations based on a point system from my undergraduate field herpetology course.I wasn’t expecting how popular
How College Students helped me find thousands of species Read More »
Hello! Dillon here. It’s been a while, but I’m thrilled to be sending you this announcement. Its time for the next chapter for Learn Adventurously. I’m diving in full-time! In this email, I want to give you (and over 2000 other nature nerds!) a brief explanation for the radio silence the last 6 months and hint at what
Learn Adventurously Newsletter is back! Read More »
