Darwin did not expect to have "his" theory applied to pixelated creatures...this is payback for taking the limelight over Wallace. On Adapt or Die, Austin (a PhD candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) explores topics in popular culture that can be dissected with evolutionary theories and ideas. We will ask questions like "Does Pokémon evolution work like actual evolution?" or "How would evolution inform what lives and what dies after nuclear fallout". Combining peer-reviewed science, humour, and a smidge of speculation we will adapt our understanding of pop culture together.

Follow Adapt or Die! on Instagram for regular updates!

Follow Austin on Twitter and Instagram for queer things, science things, pop culture things, and the intersection of all of the above!

Have a pop culture ecology or evolutionary biology question you want answered? Submit your questions and ideas here for a chance to have your topic researched and discussed on the podcast!

Song credits: Music by Gregor Quendel from Pixabay

Logo design: Austin Ashbaugh, Chase Ashbaugh, Xander Allen

Episode Description:
Welcome to this brand new episode of Adapt or Die! The evolutionary biology of pop culture hosted by Austin Ashbaugh. The current cultural phenomenon we are discussing this season is Pokémon and todays episode is focused on the Fighting type. Our evolutionary connection to the fighting type is the survival of the fittest. In the Safari Zone, I get into the requirements for Evolution by Natural selection using Paldean Tauros as an example. During the pokémon professors rant I talk about epigenetics and how I could have saved hours shiny chaining as a child. Lastly, we will end todays episode with describing a new regional form of Mightyena and results from our latest pokémon spectacular competition. Sit back and relax in a chair older than yourself, open an old dusty tome, and join me as we adapt or die!

Link to Google Slides of Pokémon discussed in this episode

Follow Adapt or Die! on Instagram for regular updates

Follow Austin on Twitter and Instagram

Have a pop culture ecology or evolutionary biology question you want answered? Submit your questions and ideas here for a chance to have your topic researched and discussed on the podcast!

Song credits: Music by Gregor Quendel from Pixabay

Logo design: Austin Ashbaugh, Chase Ashbaugh, Xander Allen

Resources cited for research in this episode:
1. Bellen HJ, Tong C, Tsuda H. 100 years of Drosophila research and its impact on vertebrate neuroscience: a history lesson for the future. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010 Jul;11(7):514-22. doi: 10.1038/nrn2839. PMID: 20383202; PMCID: PMC4022039.
2. Darwin, C. (1859). _On the origin of species: A facsimile of the first edition_. Harvard University Press.
3. Drea C. M., Place N. J., Weldele M. L., Coscia E. M., Licht P. and Glickman S. E. 2002Exposure to naturally circulating androgens during foetal life incurs direct reproductive costs in female spotted hyenas, but is prerequisite for male matingProc. R. Soc. Lond. B.2691981–1987
4. Herrel, A., Joly, D., & Danchin, E. (2020). Epigenetics in ecology and evolution. _Functional Ecology_, _34_(2), 381-384.
5. Hungwe, C. (2017). Of crocodiles, Magumaguma, Hyenas, and Malayitsha: Zimbabweans crossing the Limpopo in search of a better life in South Africa. In _TMC2017 Conference Proceedings_ (pp. 363-371). Transnational Press London.
6. Mawere, M. (2012). _Struggle of African Indigenous knowledge systems in an age of globalization : a case for children’s traditional games in South-Eastern Zimbabwe_ (1st ed.). Langaa RPCIG.
7. Richard W Burkhardt, Lamarck, Evolution, and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters, _Genetics_, Volume 194, Issue 4, 1 August 2013, Pages 793–805, [https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.113.151852](https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.113.151852)
8. Struhl, G. (1981). A homoeotic mutation transforming leg to antenna in Drosophila. _Nature_, _292_(5824), 635-638.
9. Franklin, R. E. (1951). Crystallite growth in graphitizing and non-graphitizing carbons. _Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences_, _209_(1097), 196-218.

Episode Description:
Welcome to this brand new episode of Adapt or Die! The evolutionary biology of pop culture hosted by Austin Ashbaugh. The current cultural phenomenon we are discussing this season is Pokémon and todays episode is focused on the normal type. Our evolutionary connection to the normal type is artificial selection. In the Safari Zone, I get into examples of artificial selection with Zigzagoon and Meowth providing excellent case studies. During the pokémon professors rant I appropriately rant about how Furfrou was a terrible idea to show paegentry and Pidove was robbed. Lastly, we will end todays episode with describing a regional variant of Budew with a Tyrogue like evolution chain and results from our latest pokémon spectacular competition. Sit back and relax in a chair older than yourself, open an old dusty tome, and join me as we adapt or die!

Link to Google Slides of Pokémon discussed in this episode

Follow Adapt or Die! on Instagram for regular updates

Follow Austin on Twitter and Instagram

Have a pop culture ecology or evolutionary biology question you want answered? Submit your questions and ideas here for a chance to have your topic researched and discussed on the podcast!

Song credits: Music by Gregor Quendel from Pixabay

Logo design: Austin Ashbaugh, Chase Ashbaugh, Xander Allen

Resources cited for research in this episode:
1. Secord, J. A. (1981). Nature's fancy: Charles Darwin and the breeding of pigeons. _Isis_, _72_(2), 163-186.
2. Shapiro, B. (2017). Pathways to de‐extinction: how close can we get to resurrection of an extinct species?. _Functional Ecology_, _31_(5), 996-1002.
3. Sinding, M. H. S., & Gilbert, M. T. P. (2016). The draft genome of extinct European aurochs and its implications for de-extinction. _Open Quaternary_, _2_, 7-7.
4. Sol, D. (2008). Artificial selection, naturalization, and fitness: Darwin's pigeons revisited. _Biological Journal of the Linnean Society_, _93_(4), 657-665.
5. https://evolution.berkeley.edu/lines-of-evidence/artificial-selection/
6. https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Artificial_Pok%C3%A9mon
7. https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonconspiracies/comments/axagi7/the_galar_region_is_based_in_norse_and/
8. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/052.shtml
9. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/meowth/#
10. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/obstagoon/
11. https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/zigzagoon/