Evolution beyond allele frequency changes and the case study of amphibians

Evolution is an interdisciplinary field that has been highly controversial over the last 20 years, fuelling many studies across different disciplines, such as philosophy, mathematics, and biology. The causes and processes of evolutionary changes are, to this date, still debated. A broad evolutionary framework accounting for all sources of adaptive phenotypic variation is crucial for biodiversity conservation, which can be considered an applied evolutionary discipline. Species are experiencing human-mediated perturbations in their ecosystems. Thus, the most pressing question in conservation is whether populations can keep pace with the changes in their newly impacted environments. Among the more vulnerable and threatened species are amphibians, which have suffered the most catastrophic disease-driven loss ever recorded for wildlife. Infection outcomes are highly variable. Hence, how some amphibian populations recover while others face extinction remains unclear. Novel evolutionary hypotheses regarding these amphibian-pathogen systems need to be formulated and tested. I proposed to explore two non-genetic mechanisms (telomere length and epigenetic pattern changes) that could generate heritable adaptive variation. I devised and presented the rationale for this new conceptual evolutionary framework to help estimate amphibians' fate. As exemplified for amphibians, in this perspective, I envision the years ahead for evolution and conservation as intertwined disciplines.