Data from: Evolvability predicts evolutionary divergence in extant and extinct species (Q11397)

Heritable variation is a prerequisite for evolutionary change. Yet, whether genetic potential for microevolution is relevant on macroevolutionary timescales is debated. Here we show that evolutionary divergence among populations, and to a lesser extent among species, increases with microevolutionary evolvability in both extant and extinct taxa. We evaluate and reject a number of hypotheses put forward to explain this relationship and propose that an effect of evolvability on population and species divergence can be explained by the influence of genetic constraints on population's ability to track rapid stationary environmental fluctuations.