Special issue on "Evolution at species range edges" in J. Evol. Biol. - Call for papers We invite you to contribute a manuscript to our the Special Issue "Evolution at species range edges" in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. To express an interest, or if you'd like to know more about the Special Issue, please contact John Pannell (john.pannell@unil.ch). Deadline for submission of manuscripts: 30th January 2026 Summary Almost all organisms have geographical distributions that are limited by range margins. But why? What prevents the evolution of local adaptation in populations at a range margin from allowing the species to expand its range into new territory? One idea is that marginal populations are small and genetically depauperate, with limited potential for local adaptation. Gene flow into such populations would then increase their potential for expansion. Another idea is that migration into range margins brings alleles from elsewhere that are not locally adapted, compromising population fitness and the species' potential for expansion. Further: how do margins at high latitudes differ or resemble those at high elevations? Are southern and northern margins regulated differently? And, not least, how should we expect marginal populations to respond to changing environments or climates compared to more central populations? While these are old questions, we remain surprisingly ignorant of their answers. This special issue will feature recent theories on species range margins and expansions and empirical work aimed to test established and new theories. It especially aims to gather new insights from work on different organisms (animals, plants and microbes) studied in different types of marginal habitats (latitudinal, elevational, precipitation-dependent, edaphic) with different biological foci (ecological, population genetic). Overall, the special issue seeks an updated view on why species have range margins and how marginal populations should evolve differently from others. Guest editors Shengman Lyu, email: shengman.lyu@unil.ch Sophie Karrenberg, email: sophie.karrenberg@ebc.uu.se John R. Pannell, email: john.pannell@unil.ch Confirmed contributors so far (in alphabetical order) Aaditya Narasimhan, Akilan Ramakrishnan, Aldemar A. Acevedo, Alisa Holm, Andrew D. Saxon, Anny Chung, Antoine Perrier, April Kowalchuk-Reid, Ary A. Hoffmann, C. D. Muir, Carlos Guadaño-Peyrot, D. Wang, Daniel J. Schoen, Delphine Grivet, E. Cook, Eleanor K. O'Brien, Emanuel Fronhofer, Etsuko Nonaka Giacomo Zilio, Gael Raoul, Ginny Greenway, Greta Bocedi, Hanna Kokko, Hanna Nomoto, J. Diez, J. Sexton, Jake Alexander, Jason Sexton, Jhelam Deshpande, Jill Anderson, John Pannell, Jon Bridle, K. Kutella, Kelly McCrum, Kimberley Lemmen, L. Albano, L. Flores-Rentería, Laura Galloway, Lillie Pennington, M. Moazed, Mai Thu Nguyen, Marco A. Méndez, Matthieu Alfaro, Maurizio Marchi, Megan Higgie, Ophelie Ronce, Peter Kamal, Ricardo Alia, S. N. Sheth, Saismit Naik, Sanna Olson, Santiago C Gonzalez-Martinez, Shengman Lyu, Theofania S. Patsiou, Thomas Francisco, Thomas Keaney, X. Gomez-Vega, Yvonne Willi John Pannell (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)