Taxon-based research in evolution permits the development of a multidimensional
approach, illustrated here with lessons learned from research on salamanders. The clade is …

Observations on the ontogeny and diversity of salamanders provided some of the earliest
evidence that shifts in developmental trajectories have made a substantial contribution to the …

Cave organisms occupy a special place in evolutionary biology because convergent
morphologies of many species demonstrate repeatability in evolution even as they obscure …

The way in which novelties that lead to macroevolutionary events originate is a major
question in evolutionary biology, and one that can be addressed using the fire salamander …

Neoteny, the maintenance of larval features in sexually mature adults, is a radical way of
generating evolutionary novelty through shifts in relative timing of developmental …

Life-history modes can profoundly impact the biology of a species, and a classic example is
the dichotomy between metamorphic (biphasic) and paedomorphic (permanently aquatic) …

We lack a strong understanding of how organisms with complex life histories respond to
climate variation. Many stream-associated species have multistage life histories that are …

Heterochrony, the change in the rate or timing of development between ancestors and their
descendants, plays a major role in evolution. When heterochrony produces polymorphisms …

Facultative paedomorphosis, a process in which newt larvae can opt for reproduction before
or after metamorphosis, is geographically heterogeneous. Despite numerous ecological …

Assessing direct fitness effects of individual genetic diversity is challenging due to the
intensive and long‐term data needed to quantify survival and reproduction in the wild. But …