Abstracts

Speakers Abstracts

Phylogenetic analysis using BUSCO genes reveals the potential for distinct species within Pulsatilla bungeana variants

Lisa Amalia

University of Debrecen

Presenter: Lisa Amalia

The concept of infraspecific taxonomy remains contentious, as there is still no clear consensus on the boundaries between species and subspecies, as well as the biological meaning of subspecies themselves. Some taxonomists argue that the division of subspecies is often arbitrary and driven more by practical needs in naming new taxa than by evolutionary reasons. However, even though some of them have a clear, separate evolutionary trajectory, a subspecies is entirely dependent on its species. In a conservation context, for example, priorities are usually focused solely on the species level, leaving subspecies abandoned if the majority of species are not of conservation interest. Given this, it is crucial to re-evaluate subspecies with significant differences to design conservation strategies more accurately. Pulsatilla bungeana is one of these species that exhibit several variants and complex taxonomy. Currently, three subspecies of P. bungeana are described in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: P. bungeana var. bungeana, var. tenuiloba, and var. astragalifolia. Among these, P. bungeana var. astragalifolia stands out for its narrow geographical range in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia, and for unique characters that suggest potential ecological or evolutionary differentiation. Previous efforts to resolve such ambiguities often relied on plastome genomes, which may fail to detect reticulate evolution or hybridization. While nuclear genome probe sets like Angiosperm353 offer better resolution, they are often cost-prohibitive. Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) presents a promising, cost-effective alternative. BUSCO assesses genome completeness by identifying highly conserved, single-copy orthologs and can function without a reference genome, making it ideal for non-model organisms. This study aims to clarify the taxonomic status of P. bungeana var. astragalifolia by integrating the plastome and nuclear genomes, which were analyzed using BUSCO probe sets. This combination is expected to trace signals from both the maternal and biparental sides to clarify the possibility of hybridization. Thus, we not only obtain clarification on the taxonomic side but also demonstrate how BUSCO can be used as an efficient alternative in resolving infraspecific taxonomic conflicts.

Speakers Abstracts

Coordination of collared flycatcher parent visits

Noémi Bujnóczki

Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

Presenter: Noémi Bujnóczki

Parental coordination is observed in numerous animal species, and offspring development is often influenced by how effectively parents coordinate their behaviour. In birds, coordinated feeding behaviour can be described as alternated or synchronised, depending on the temporal spacing of parental visits to the nest. Although previous experiments and observations described this behaviour and its possible influence on parental investment and nestling growth, it remains poorly understood how one parent’s behaviour can influence the other parent’s feeding behaviour. To address this, we applied several analytical approaches to investigate parental feeding behaviour of collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) parents and their interactions during the nestling period. Using a multivariate Hawkes process, a past-dependent point-process that models multiple interacting event occurrences, we tested whether one parent’s behaviour causally influences the other. We analysed continuous visitation data collected by an automated, radio-frequency identification-based (RFID) system, which recorded parental visits for up to 20 hours per day at nest boxes. We found hourly variance in the visitation rates of parents, and time-series analyses revealed that parents synchronise their visits more than expected by chance. Our preliminary models indicate that parental visits are both affected by the parents' own and by the other parent's behaviour, meaning after a parent visits their next action will be determined by their own and their partner’s past visits. Overall these results help explain how parents can dynamically coordinate their behaviour so that it best suits their energy investment during provisioning.

Speakers Abstracts

One-liners or smooth talkers? An investigation into song diversity in the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis)

Péter Hegedűs

Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Debrecen

Presenter: Péter Hegedűs

Acoustic signals — especially songs — play a central role in bird communication and are essential for many behaviours. Birdsong carries information and serves as an important tool for selection, so examining variation among individuals can offer insight into how evolutionary processes interact with environmental influences. An individual’s ability to sing can depend on laryngeal muscle development and cognitive capabilities. It has already been shown that the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is closely related to muscle mass and cognitive capacity like memory, so we aimed to better understand the relationship between the IGF-1 levels and singing performance in the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). In this species individual repertoire and the speed of the song can act as important markers for mate-selection, so we focused on the different qualities of the song that might be under selection and their hypothetical relationship with the IGF-1 growth hormone. Our preliminary results show marked differences associated by the tempo of the song, both structurally and in terms of sequential diversity. We have also found that structural and sequential song diversity were negatively related, suggesting that these two variables together may offer insight into the life-history evolutionary role of song variation and mate choice.

Speakers Abstracts

Division of labour and long-range resource sharing in clonal plant networks

András Gábor Hubai

HUN-REN Rényi Alfréd Matematikai Kutatóintézet

Presenter: András Gábor Hubai

Clonal plants form a network of semi-autonomous agents (ramets), linked by persistent connections, whose local interactions give rise to emergent genet-level behaviour (Oborny, 2019). A central challenge for such clonal systems is to find and exploit spatially heterogeneous resources, and to make resource allocation decisions that support this spatial search. Ramets can specialize in distinct resources while relying on sharing within the clone, resulting in a division of labour only possible when considering multiple heterogeneously distributed resources (such as above-ground and below-ground resources). When division of labour is combined with efficient long-range resource sharing, above- and below-ground organs can be distributed largely independently of each other, following the spatial distribution of their respective resources. We assume that, in addition to resource flow, communication can occur along the persistent connections, so that each ramet may use information about its own and its direct neighbours’ success in acquiring each resource. Under a greedy local rule, a ramet allocates resources into whichever organ (its own or a neighbour’s) is currently most efficient, separately for each resource. In patchy environments, this greedy, local-information-based allocation can fail: ramets in local optima induce resource attraction and overaccumulation, while ramets in local pessima induce resource repulsion and underaccumulation, both obstructing long-range resource flow between complementary patches. Because these flows are needed for efficient division of labour, we propose that communication channels may be used manipulatively. Local manipulative signals between genetically identical ramets can temporarily alter allocation patterns to bypass local optima and pessima and restore long-range connectivity of resource sharing. At the genet level, selection should therefore favour agents that effectively force each other’s hands through these signalling and allocation rules.

Speakers Abstracts

Ecological generalism drives the evolution of multidrug resistance in Escherichia

Ágoston Hunya

Synthetic and Systems Biology Unit, Institute of Biochemistry, HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Temesvári krt. 62, 6726, Szeged, Hungary ; Department of Genetics, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. stny. 1/C, 1117, Budapest, Hungary ; HUN-REN Office for Supported Research Groups, Piarista u. 4, 1052, Budapest, Hungary

Presenter: Ágoston Hunya

The propensity to evolve multidrug resistance varies widely across bacterial lineages, yet the ecological and genetic factors that underpin high-risk lineages remain unclear. Here, we analyze ~20,000 diverse Escherichia coli genomes in a phylogenetic framework to quantify resistance gain propensity across lineages. We show that agro-clinical generalism—circulation between livestock and extraintestinal human infections—is the dominant driver, outperforming clinical prevalence alone. Generalists do not merely experience more horizontal gene transfer; they exhibit higher plasmid-borne resistance gene density and more frequent gain of chromosomal resistance mutations, implicating selection as the main force. Crucially, we identify specific virulence loci (notably ColV-linked systems) that predict balanced animal–human niche presence and subsequent resistance acquisition. By contrast, intestinal specialists carrying Type III secretion systems show low resistance propensity. These findings challenge a pervasive virulence–resistance trade-off, and instead demonstrate that ecological generalism favours the evolution of multidrug resistance. Our results establish an ecological framework for identifying high-risk lineages at the animal–human interface.

Speakers Abstracts

The effect of landscape geometry on the sustainable concentration and information

Alexa Iván1, András Szilágyi1

1 HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Evolution, Budapest, Hungary

Presenter: Alexa Iván

One of the major challenges of prebiotic evolution was the maintenance of genetic information in the absence of precise replication enzymes or error-correcting mechanisms. In such an early environment, high mutation rates could have easily destroyed functional sequences, making the emergence of biological complexity extremely difficult. Our research investigates how the geometry of the fitness landscape influences the sustainability of the master type, addressing not only the well-analysed concept of sustainable information (the error threshold) but also introducing a new perspective: the maintenance of biologically relevant sustainable concentrations (5%, 10%, and 20%) under increasing mutational pressure. Throughout our research we have investigated how different fitness landscape geometries – synergistic (𝑛 < 1), neutral (𝑛 = 1) and antagonistic (𝑛 > 1) – affect the system's ability to maintain sustainable information and sustainable concentrations over time. To explore these dynamics, we used two different models. We first developed an analytical genotypic model to examine the system numerically through a set of ordinary differential equations. We then extended the analysis to an individual-based phenotypic model, performing computer simulations under three different scenarios in which the folded master phenotype contained a catalytically active small loop, large loop or linear motif. Our results highlighted that the geometry of the fitness landscape defines a clear trade-off between the error threshold and the sustainable concentration of the master type: landscapes that are robust in maintaining information at high mutation rates tend to be weaker in maintaining critical concentrations necessary for the prebiotic system to function, and vice versa. Thus, under noisy prebiotic conditions, a rapid loss of function as mutations accumulate – traditionally seen as a disadvantage – may in fact be advantageous, as it better promotes the maintenance of functional molecules at concentrations necessary for chemical efficiency.

Speakers Abstracts

Cooperation in public goods game does not require assortment and depends on population density

Adél Károlyi

Presenter: Adél Károlyi

The threshold public goods game is one of the best-known models of non-linear public goods dilemmas. Cooperators and defectors typically coexist in this game when the population is assumed to follow the so-called structured deme model. In this article, we develop a dynamical model of a general N-player game in which there is no deme structure: Individuals interact with randomly chosen neighbours and selection occurs between randomly chosen pairs of individuals. We show that in the deterministic limit, the dynamics in this model leads to the same replicator dynamics as in the structured deme model, i.e., coexistence of cooperators and defectors is typical in threshold public goods game even when the population is completely well mixed.

Speakers Abstracts

Brain-body size allometries differ with parental care across vertebrates

Mihály Gábor Mándi

Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

Presenter: Mihály Gábor Mándi

Brain size is highly variable across vertebrates, and this diversity has often been hypothesized to be associated with the evolutionary success of phylogenetic lineages. Variation in brain size has been associated with a multitude of traits, from metabolism to mating systems and cognitive abilities. Larger brains are also thought to be associated with the occurrence and complexity of parental care; however, this has rarely been tested in large numbers of species across all major vertebrate clades. Here, we use a comprehensive brain size database, VerteBrainData and publicly available data on parental care traits to investigate the association between brain size and the presence and complexity of parental care traits in 2187 and 3500 species, respectively. We find that, across vertebrates, the allometric relationships between brain size and body size have steeper slopes in species providing parental care compared to those with no care. Also, provisioning offspring with nutrients significantly drives brain size variation across vertebrates, suggesting that provisioning plays a key role in the development of larger brains. Together, our comprehensive and detailed analyses open new avenues for the study of brain size and parental care and highlight the power of phylogenetic comparative analyses for revealing patterns spanning hundreds of millions of years of evolution.

Speakers Abstracts

The macro- and microevolution and global diversity of Saccharomyces yeasts

Bálint Németh

Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Microbiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

Presenter: Bálint Németh

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a domesticated species ubiquitous in the food industry and widely used as a probiotic. In addition to its manifold uses, S. cerevisiae may also be regarded as a member of our extended microbiome and may also be capable of long-term commensal and even pathogenic colonization. Other species in the genus show fewer signs of domestication but are sometimes applied in various traditional fermentations. Many of the genus’ described clades are specifically adapted to traditional or modern industrial fermentation environments and are often characterized by high levels of admixture. Extensive microevolutionary phenomena, such as genome structure variations, and the ability for rapid adaptation are very characteristic for S. cerevisiae but less so for other members of the genus.

We aimed to study the phenomena of macro- and microevolution in the genomes of probiotic yeasts and of human isolates of the species. We used our recently finished “Compendium of Saccharomyces” database that includes more than 6000 strains’ genomes. We applied phylogenomics and comparative analysis of genome structure variations and the mutational spectrum across clades containing human isolates to understand how domestication and deliberate breeding affected the adaptability and pathogenic potential of Saccharomyces throughout its shared history with humans.

Our results on the phylogenomic relationships of isolate genomes using an optimized pipeline highlighted several industrial clades that can colonize the human host at least temporarily. We show that genomic characteristics and breeding history had remarkable effects on in-host microevolution, especially in the case of baking strains. Our study shows that even if S. cerevisiae is a true member of the extended human microbiome, it is now mostly present in us in the form of non-natural, domesticated, and often artificially bred clades.

Speakers Abstracts

Lipopolysaccharide exposure provokes immune response and shifts microbiome communities in Hydra oligactis

Retno Novvitasari Hery Daryono1,2,*, Bhavya Pillay Venu Gopal1, Réka Zsófia Bubán3,4, Csongor Freytag3, Levente Laczkó3,5, Gábor Kardos3,6, Enikő Anita Nagy1, Lukas Becker7, Sebastian Fraune7, Jácint Tökölyi1

1 - MTA-DE “Momentum” Ecology, Evolution & Developmental Biology Research Group, Dept. of Evolutionary Zoology, Univ. of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Hungary

2 - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Jl Gajayana 50, Malang, Indonesia

3 - One Health Institute, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

4 - Department of Botany, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

5 - HUN-REN DE Conservation Biology Research Group, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

6 - Microbiological Reference Laboratory, National Public Health Center, Budapest, Hungary

7 - Institute of Zoology and Organismic Interactions, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Presenter: Retno Novvitasari Hery Daryono

The immune system is a fundamental feature of animal life, deeply rooted in evolutionary history. It has evolved under intense selective pressure and serves as the foundation of animal defense against pathogens. At the same time, animals cannot be viewed as single, independent organisms; rather, they are holobionts—complex ecological units composed of the host and its associated microorganisms. As a cohesive biological entity, the microbiome exerts significant influence on the host’s fitness, development, behavior, physiological functions, and immunity. To investigate how immune challenges affect the host and its interaction with the microbiota, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used. However, the inconsistencies observed in LPS-induced responses across different invertebrate species highlight the need for further research. In this study, we aimed to understand how early-diverging animals like cnidarians recognize and respond to LPS, and how these responses influence their symbiotic microbial communities. We used Hydra as an animal model. To assess changes in immune response, we exposed Hydra to two concentrations of LPS and tested the antibacterial activity of peptides extracted post-exposure against Pseudomonas sp. Furthermore, to evaluate the consequences of immune activation on the microbiota, we measured the cultivable bacterial load in Hydra following LPS treatment. The study revealed a clear trend: both low and high LPS treatments resulted in significantly different inhibition zones compared to the control group. In addition, LPS exposure also led to a significant difference in cultivable bacterial load relative to the control, suggesting that immune activation impacts microbial abundance. These findings highlight the importance of immune challenges in modulating both host immune responses and host–microbiota interactions in early-diverging animals.

Speakers Abstracts

Conservation genomics of Central European populations of the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus)

Virág Nyíri1, Tamás Cserkész2,3, Lajos Szatmári3, Natalia Feoktistova4, Alexey V. Surov4, Zsolt Hegyeli5, Gábor Sramkó1,6

1 University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary

2 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary

3 Bükk Mammalogical Research Society, Eger, Hungary

4 A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

5 Milvus Group Bird and Nature Protection Association, Târgu Mureș, Romania

6 HUN-REN-UD Conservation Biology Research Group

Presenter: Virág Nyíri

Genetic structure is critical for effective conservation because it clarifies the factors shaping the resilience of threatened populations and guides region-specific management strategies. The common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) has undergone severe declines across Europe, yet conservation initiatives have historically focused on long-declining western populations, while eastern ranges—particularly those in Hungary—have remained understudied. In Hungary, where the species was long regarded as an agricultural pest, no comprehensive genetic assessment had previously been conducted despite the region’s potential importance as both a historical stronghold and an ancestral source area. To address this gap, we carried out extensive sampling between 2021 and 2025 across the species’ key distribution areas in the Pannonian region, stretching from the Vienna Basin to Transylvania, and Russian outgroup samples. Using a RAD-seq approach, we reconstructed the genetic structure and phylogeographic patterns of 161 individuals from the eastern part of the distribution.

Our analyses revealed that most populations formed distinct monophyletic groups with minimal admixture, indicating substantial genetic isolation among regions. Partial intermixing was detected only in geographically adjacent populations. Phylogenetic reconstruction demonstrated that the deepest lineages occur in Transylvania, suggesting a historical refugium there. Subsequent westward expansion likely gave rise to a southern Pannonian refugial population, which later split into two major lineages separated by the Danube River. Eastern populations exhibited a clear northward colonisation trajectory, repeatedly crossing the Tisza River and progressively establishing populations further to the north. Preliminary genomic diversity estimates indicate moderate heterozygosity but strong contemporary structuring consistent with ongoing fragmentation. Together, these findings provide the first high-resolution overview of hamster population structure in Eastern Europe and offer an essential foundation for developing targeted, region-specific conservation measures across the eastern part of the species’ range.

Speakers Abstracts

Nutrient-specific regulation of growth–maintenance trade-offs via the IGF-1–mTOR pathway in birds

Gebrehaweria K. Reda

University of Debrecen

Presenter: Gebrehaweria K. Reda

Nutritional environments vary widely in both quantity and composition, requiring organisms to adjust physiological responses under changing resource conditions. Here we tested how quantitative feed (20%), energy (20%), and protein (20%) restriction affected growth through the IGF-1–mTOR pathway in growing Japanese quail and whether targeted amino acid supplementation (20%) changes the effect for feed restriction. We found that both feed restriction and energy restriction strongly arrested growth, with similar body mass trajectories, whereas protein restriction had no significant effect compared to the control. However, at the molecular level, this similarity in growth changes did not manifest. Feed restriction downregulated anabolic gene (IGF1, MTOR, GHR, IGF1R) expression and upregulated autophagy genes (ATG9A, ATG5), while energy and protein restriction had limited effects. Amino acid supplementation partially shifted anabolic genes expression toward control levels and reduced the upregulation effect of restriction on autophagy, although it showed a modest recovery in growth. Methionine supplementation increased SOD2 expression, suggesting improved stress defence. Across candidate paths (bootstrap R = 1000), MTOR was consistently positioned as a central hub linking anabolic and maintenance processes and, ultimately, body mass. These results suggest that nutrient-specific constraints differentially shape growth and molecular responses through the IGF-1–mTOR pathway.

Speakers Abstracts

Phylogeography of an inland population of Carex extensa Gooden. (Cyperaceae) in Central Europe

Diriba Shanko Boke

University of Debrecen

Presenter: Boke Diriba Shanko

Maritime coastal plants typically occur along shorelines in close proximity to the sea. Carex extensa (Cyperaceae) is predominantly a coastal sedge plant distributed along the European seaboard, with a notable inland occurrence near Lake Fertő in north-western Hungary, approximately 330 km from the nearest maritime coast of the Adriatic Sea. We investigate the origin of this inland population by placing it within previously published, range-wide phylogeographic results based on plastid 5’trnK intron sequences and microsatellite (SSR) markers. We genotyped the Hungarian population together with one newly collected population from the Adriatic coast of Croatia using these markers. The inland Hungarian and coastal Croatian populations both belonged to the western plastid haplotype group characteristic of populations from the western Mediterranean basin. In contrast, microsatellite-based genotyping, genetic distance, and genetic differentiation analyses clustered these populations within the group occupying the eastern Mediterranean basin, which is consistent with their geographic proximity. The Hungarian and Croatian populations showed high genetic similarity and were genetically close to each other, although considerable genetic differentiation was detected (G′ST ≈ 0.3), most likely as a consequence of a founder effect. Overall, our results suggest that the inland C. extensa population near Lake Fertő in Hungary did not originate directly from any of the populations included in the published dataset. However, its genetic proximity to the Croatian population indicates a likely origin from a coastal Adriatic population. This pattern is consistent with the migratory pathways of waterbirds, which we propose as the probable vectors responsible for this notable long-distance jump-dispersal event.

Speakers Abstracts

Phylogenomics and drought-related genomic variation in Quercus robur and Q. pedunculiflora

Gábor Sramkó

University of Debrecen

Presenter: Gábor Sramkó

Phylogenetic relationships between Quercus pedunculiflora (greyish oak) and Q. robur (pedunculate oak) were investigated in a genomic framework using samples collected from multiple localities in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. To our knowledge, this study represents the first genomic analysis of Q. pedunculiflora and addresses unresolved questions concerning its occurrence and taxonomic status at the north-western margin of its distribution range. Greyish oak has been proposed as a potential source of adaptive genetic variation because of its reported drought tolerance and close evolutionary relationship with Q. robur. Dormant bud samples from 15 individuals representing Northern Balkan and Central-Eastern European localities were subjected to whole-genome resequencing at 20× coverage and analysed using the chromosome-level reference genome of Q. robur. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from complete plastid genome sequences and genome-wide nuclear single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapped to the separate autosomes of the pedunculate oak reference genome. Plastid variation separated the samples into two groups irrespective of their a priori taxonomic assignment. In contrast, nuclear SNPs from autosomal regions revealed only weak overall differentiation between Q. robur and Q. pedunculiflora, accompanied by substantial chromosome-level heterogeneity. This phylogenomic discordance is consistent with historical introgression, which is well documented within the European white oak complex. When the analysis was restricted to candidate genes potentially involved in drought tolerance, the Hungarian specimens differed markedly from the Northern Balkan specimens irrespective of taxonomic assignment, with putative drought-tolerance genes enriched in allopatric Q. robur. These results suggest that assisted gene flow may deserve consideration as a means of enhancing climate resilience in Hungarian pedunculate oak populations.

Speakers Abstracts

A general signalling theory: why honest signals are explained by trade-offs rather than costs or handicaps

Szabolcs Számadó

BME Department of Sociology and Communication

Presenter: Szabolcs Számadó

Honest signals have long posed a major challenge to explain for evolutionary biologists. Here we propose a general Darwinian theory of signalling, Signalling Trade-Off Theory, to explain both honest and dishonest signalling, which is based on recent theoretical and empirical developments. The leading explanation for honest signalling for decades has been the Handicap Principle, which argues that signals are honest because they are costly. We summarize the main reasons why the Handicap Principle – and the related Costly Signalling paradigm – can be fully rejected. Instead, we propose an alternative and more general explanation for honest signalling. We argue that trade-offs, which are the foundation of life-history and many other evolutionary theories, are also central to explaining signal honesty and deception. Unlike costs, trade-offs can fully represent both aspects of an investment (marginal cost versus marginal benefit) over different timescales arising in evolutionary analyses. We show that differential trade-offs are both necessary and sufficient to explain honest signals in cases with conflict of interest. Based on these theoretical advances, we argue that differential signalling trade-offs provide a general evolutionary explanation for both dishonest and honest signals and also unifies the alternative proposals for signal honesty.

Speakers Abstracts

Evolution of adhesive toepads and their ecological role in lizard habitat use and diversification

Zsolt Villás

University of Debrecen

Presenter: Zsolt Villás

The evolution of adhesive toepads plays a significant role from both evolutionary and ecological perspectives, as it enables adaptation to new habitats, tolerance of extreme weather conditions, and contributed to the adaptive radiation of Squamata. The adhesive toepads of geckos, anoles, and skinks show considerable morphological diversity, as they evolved through convergent and parallel evolution via different anatomical solutions. Functionally, however, they are homologous structures, since the outcome is the same in all three groups and that is the effective adhesion. Previous studies have shown that adhesive toepads significantly contributed to the colonization of arboreal habitats. Their role in rocky habitats is less clear, but according to certain theories, some types of adhesive toepads may have facilitated the colonization of karstic rock surfaces. In this study, using a comprehensive Squamata phylogeny, we reconstructed the evolutionary history of toepads with character reconstruction models and tested, with phylogenetic linear models, how the presence and type of adhesive toepads influence habitat preference in lizards. Our results confirm the association between adhesive toepads and an arboreal lifestyle for all toepad types, while also suggesting that they did not facilitate the occupation of rocky habitats. Based on this, we propose that their key ecological innovation is adhesion to smooth and less load-bearing leaves and shoots. However, their presence and type are not associated with small body size. As we found no functional differences among the morphological types of toepads, and each model reconstructs different evolutionary histories, we plan to continue this research later with a larger species sample following extensive data collection.

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