Evolutionary Research

Evolution is the change in inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It is a unifying concept in all of biology and evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organization, including species, populations, individuals and molecules.

An important mechanism causing evolution is natural selection; individuals vary in heritable traits and this variation results in differences in fitness that depend on the environment. Evolution may be studied at different temporal and spatial scales and may involve reconstruction of historical patterns as well as the processes resulting in evolution.

At Stockholm University research explicitly focusing on evolutionary aspects includes studies on phylogeny, trait evolution, biogeography, speciation, hybridization, interactions between species, selection in natural populations, and the links between selection and the environment.