Evolutionary ecology

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A phylogenetic tree of living things Tree of life.svg
A phylogenetic tree of living things

Evolutionary ecology lies at the intersection of ecology and evolutionary biology. It approaches the study of ecology in a way that explicitly considers the evolutionary histories of species and the interactions between them. Conversely, it can be seen as an approach to the study of evolution that incorporates an understanding of the interactions between the species under consideration. The main subfields of evolutionary ecology are life history evolution, sociobiology (the evolution of social behavior), the evolution of interspecific interactions (e.g. cooperation, predator–prey interactions, parasitism, mutualism) and the evolution of biodiversity and of ecological communities.

Contents

Evolutionary ecology mostly considers two things: how interactions (both among species and between species and their physical environment) shape species through selection and adaptation, and the consequences of the resulting evolutionary change.

Evolutionary models

A large part of evolutionary ecology is about utilising models and finding empirical data as proof. [1] Examples include the Lack clutch size model devised by David Lack and his study of Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands. Lack's study of Darwin's finches was important in analyzing the role of different ecological factors in speciation. Lack suggested that differences in species were adaptive and produced by natural selection, based on the assertion by G.F. Gause that two species cannot occupy the same niche. [2]

Richard Levins introduced his model of the specialization of species in 1968, which investigated how habitat specialization evolved within heterogeneous environments using the fitness sets an organism or species possesses. This model developed the concept of spatial scales in specific environments, defining fine-grained spatial scales and coarse-grained spatial scales. [3] The implications of this model include a rapid increase in environmental ecologists' understanding of how spatial scales impact species diversity in a certain environment. [4]

Another model is Law and Diekmann's 1996 models on mutualism, which is defined as a relationship between two organisms that benefits both individuals. [5] Law and Diekmann developed a framework called adaptive dynamics, which assumes that changes in plant or animal populations in response to a disturbance or lack thereof occurs at a faster rate than mutations occur. It is aimed to simplify other models addressing the relationships within communities. [6]

Tangled nature model

The tangled nature model provides different methods for demonstrating and predicting trends in evolutionary ecology. The model analyzes an individual prone to mutation within a population as well as other factors such as extinction rate. [7] The model was developed by Simon Laird, Daniel Lawson, and Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen of the Imperial College London in 2002. The purpose of the model is to create a simple and logical ecological model based on observation. The model is designed such that ecological effects can be accounted for when determining form, and fitness of a population.

Ecological genetics

Ecological genetics tie into evolutionary ecology through the study of how traits evolve in natural populations. [8] Ecologists are concerned with how the environment and timeframe leads to genes becoming dominant. Organisms must continually adapt in order to survive in natural habitats. Genes define which organisms survive and which will die out. When organisms develop different genetic variations, even though they stem from the same species, it is known as polymorphism. [9] Organisms that pass on beneficial genes continue to evolve their species to have an advantage inside of their niche.

Evolutionary ecologists

Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Darwin Charles Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1868.jpg
Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Darwin

Charles Darwin

The basis of the central principles of evolutionary ecology can be attributed to Charles Darwin (1809–1882), specifically in referencing his theory of natural selection and population dynamics, which discusses how populations of a species change over time. [10] According to Ernst Mayr, professor of zoology at Harvard University, Darwin's most distinct contributions to evolutionary biology and ecology are as follows: "The first is the non-constancy of species, or the modern conception of evolution itself. The second is the notion of branching evolution, implying the common descent of all species of living things on earth from a single unique origin." [11] Additionally, "Darwin further noted that evolution must be gradual, with no major breaks or discontinuities. Finally, he reasoned that the mechanism of evolution was natural selection." [11]

George Evelyn Hutchinson

George Evelyn Hutchinson's (1903–1991) contributions to the field of ecology spanned over 60 years, in which he had significant influence in systems ecology, radiation ecology, limnology, and entomology. [12] Described as the "father of modern ecology" [12] by Stephen Jay Gould, Hutchinson was one of the first scientists to link the subjects of ecology and mathematics. According to Hutchinson, he constructed "mathematical models of populations, the changing proportions of individuals of various ages, birthrate, the ecological niche, and population interaction in this technical introduction to population ecology." [13] He also had a vast interest in limnology, due to his belief that lakes could be studied as a microcosm that provides insight into system behavior. [14] Hutchinson is also known for his work Circular Causal Systems in Ecology, in which he states that "groups of organisms may be acted upon by their environment, and they may react upon it. If a set of properties in either system changes in such a way that the action of the first system on the second changes, this may cause changes in properties of the second system which alter the mode of action of the second system on the first." [15]

Robert MacArthur

Robert MacArthur (1930–1972) is best known in the field of Evolutionary Ecology for his work The Theory of Island Biogeography , in which he and his co-author propose "that the number of species on any island reflects a balance between the rate at which new species colonize it and the rate at which populations of established species become extinct." [16]

Eric Pianka

According to the University of Texas, Eric Pianka's (1939–2022) work in evolutionary ecology includes foraging strategies, reproductive tactics, competition and niche theory, community structure and organization, species diversity, and understanding rarity. [17] Pianka is also known for his interest in lizards to study ecological occurrences, as he claimed they were "often abundant, making them relatively easy to locate, observe, and capture." [17] [ self-published source? ]

Michael Rosenzweig

Michael L. Rosenzweig (1941–present) created and popularized Reconciliation ecology, which began with his theory that designated nature preserves would not be enough land to conserve the biodiversity of Earth, as humans have used so much land that they have negatively impacted biogeochemical cycles and had other ecological impacts that have negatively affected species compositions. [18]

Other notable evolutionary ecologists

Research

Michael Rosenzweig's idea of reconciliation ecology was developed based on existing research, which was conducted on the principle first suggested by Alexander von Humboldt stating that larger areas of land will have increased species diversity as compared to smaller areas. This research focused on species-area relationships (SPARs) and the different scales on which they exist, ranging from sample-area to interprovincial SPARs. Steady-state dynamics in diversity gave rise to these SPARs, which are now used to measure the reduction of species diversity on Earth. In response to this decline in diversity, Rosenzweig's reconciliation ecology was born. [22]

Evolutionary ecology has been studied using symbiotic relationships between organisms to determine the evolutionary forces by which such relationships develop. In symbiotic relationships, the symbiont must confer some advantage to its host in order to persist and continue to be evolutionarily viable. Research has been conducted using aphids and the symbiotic bacteria with which they coevolve. These bacteria are most frequently conserved from generation to generation, displaying high levels of vertical transmission. Results have shown that these symbiotic bacteria ultimately confer some resistance to parasites to their host aphids, which both increases the fitness of the aphids and lead to symbiont-mediated coevolution between the species. [23]

Color variation in cichlid fish

The effects of evolutionary ecology and its consequences can be seen in the case of color variation among African cichlid fish. With over 2,000 species, cichlid fishes are very species-rich and capable of complex social interactions. [24] Polychromatism, the variation of color patterns within a population, occurs within cichlid fishes due to environmental adaptations and to increase chances of sexual reproduction. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adaptive radiation</span> A process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species

In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic interactions or opens new environmental niches. Starting with a single ancestor, this process results in the speciation and phenotypic adaptation of an array of species exhibiting different morphological and physiological traits. The prototypical example of adaptive radiation is finch speciation on the Galapagos, but examples are known from around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology</span> Study of organisms and their environment

Ecology is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, and natural history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theoretical ecology</span>

Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of ecological systems using theoretical methods such as simple conceptual models, mathematical models, computational simulations, and advanced data analysis. Effective models improve understanding of the natural world by revealing how the dynamics of species populations are often based on fundamental biological conditions and processes. Further, the field aims to unify a diverse range of empirical observations by assuming that common, mechanistic processes generate observable phenomena across species and ecological environments. Based on biologically realistic assumptions, theoretical ecologists are able to uncover novel, non-intuitive insights about natural processes. Theoretical results are often verified by empirical and observational studies, revealing the power of theoretical methods in both predicting and understanding the noisy, diverse biological world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological niche</span> Fit of a species living under specific environmental conditions

In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors and how it in turn alters those same factors. "The type and number of variables comprising the dimensions of an environmental niche vary from one species to another [and] the relative importance of particular environmental variables for a species may vary according to the geographic and biotic contexts".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogeography</span> Study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area. Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals. Mycogeography is the branch that studies distribution of fungi, such as mushrooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleoecology</span> Study of interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales

Paleoecology is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs a variety of fields including paleontology, ecology, climatology and biology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sympatric speciation</span> Evolution of a new species from an ancestor in the same location

In evolutionary biology, sympatric speciation is the evolution of a new species from a surviving ancestral species while both continue to inhabit the same geographic region. In evolutionary biology and biogeography, sympatric and sympatry are terms referring to organisms whose ranges overlap so that they occur together at least in some places. If these organisms are closely related, such a distribution may be the result of sympatric speciation. Etymologically, sympatry is derived from Greek συν (sun-) 'together', and πατρίς (patrís) 'homeland'. The term was coined by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1904, who explains the derivation.

Ecology is a new science and considered as an important branch of biological science, having only become prominent during the second half of the 20th century. Ecological thought is derivative of established currents in philosophy, particularly from ethics and politics.

Michael L. Rosenzweig is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. He developed and popularized the concept of Reconciliation ecology. He received his Ph.D in zoology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 and then held a number of academic positions around the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Functional ecology</span>

Functional ecology is a branch of ecology that focuses on the roles, or functions, that species play in the community or ecosystem in which they occur. In this approach, physiological, anatomical, and life history characteristics of the species are emphasized. The term "function" is used to emphasize certain physiological processes rather than discrete properties, describe an organism's role in a trophic system, or illustrate the effects of natural selective processes on an organism. This sub-discipline of ecology represents the crossroads between ecological patterns and the processes and mechanisms that underlie them. It focuses on traits represented in large number of species and can be measured in two ways – the first being screening, which involves measuring a trait across a number of species, and the second being empiricism, which provides quantitative relationships for the traits measured in screening. Functional ecology often emphasizes an integrative approach, using organism traits and activities to understand community dynamics and ecosystem processes, particularly in response to the rapid global changes occurring in earth's environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latitudinal gradients in species diversity</span> Global increase in species richness from polar regions to tropics

Species richness, or biodiversity, increases from the poles to the tropics for a wide variety of terrestrial and marine organisms, often referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology. It has been observed to varying degrees in Earth's past. A parallel trend has been found with elevation, though this is less well-studied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Competition (biology)</span> Interaction where the fitness of one organism is lowered by the presence of another organism

Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which both require a resource that is in limited supply. Competition lowers the fitness of both organisms involved since the presence of one of the organisms always reduces the amount of the resource available to the other.

Bacteriophages (phages), potentially the most numerous "organisms" on Earth, are the viruses of bacteria. Phage ecology is the study of the interaction of bacteriophages with their environments.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ecology:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community (ecology)</span> Associated populations of species in a given area

In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological community, or life assemblage. The term community has a variety of uses. In its simplest form it refers to groups of organisms in a specific place or time, for example, "the fish community of Lake Ontario before industrialization".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological fitting</span> Biological process

Ecological fitting is "the process whereby organisms colonize and persist in novel environments, use novel resources or form novel associations with other species as a result of the suites of traits that they carry at the time they encounter the novel condition". It can be understood as a situation in which a species' interactions with its biotic and abiotic environment seem to indicate a history of coevolution, when in actuality the relevant traits evolved in response to a different set of biotic and abiotic conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolving digital ecological network</span>

Evolving digital ecological networks are webs of interacting, self-replicating, and evolving computer programs that experience the same major ecological interactions as biological organisms. Despite being computational, these programs evolve quickly in an open-ended way, and starting from only one or two ancestral organisms, the formation of ecological networks can be observed in real-time by tracking interactions between the constantly evolving organism phenotypes. These phenotypes may be defined by combinations of logical computations that digital organisms perform and by expressed behaviors that have evolved. The types and outcomes of interactions between phenotypes are determined by task overlap for logic-defined phenotypes and by responses to encounters in the case of behavioral phenotypes. Biologists use these evolving networks to study active and fundamental topics within evolutionary ecology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holobiont</span> Host and associated species living as a discrete ecological unit

A holobiont is an assemblage of a host and the many other species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit through symbiosis, though there is controversy over this discreteness. The components of a holobiont are individual species or bionts, while the combined genome of all bionts is the hologenome. The holobiont concept was initially introduced by the German theoretical biologist Adolf Meyer-Abich in 1943, and then apparently independently by Dr. Lynn Margulis in her 1991 book Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation. The concept has evolved since the original formulations. Holobionts include the host, virome, microbiome, and any other organisms which contribute in some way to the functioning of the whole. Well-studied holobionts include reef-building corals and humans.

Kirk O. Winemiller is an American ecologist, known for research on community ecology, life history theory, food webs, aquatic ecosystems, tropical ecology and fish biology. A strong interest of his has been convergent evolution and patterns, causes and consequences of biological diversity, particularly with respect to fishes. His research also has addressed the influence of hydrology on the ecological dynamics of fluvial ecosystems and applications of this knowledge for managing aquatic biodiversity and freshwater resources in the United States and other regions of the world. He currently is a University Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor at Texas A&M University and an Elected Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, American Fisheries Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Eco-evolutionary dynamics refers to the reciprocal effects that ecology and evolution have on each other. The effects of ecology on evolutionary processes are commonly observed in studies, but the realization that evolutionary changes can be rapid led to the emergence of eco-evolutionary dynamics. The idea that evolutionary processes can occur quickly and on one timescale with ecological processes led scientists to begin studying the influence evolution has on ecology along with the affects ecology has on evolution. Recent studies have documented eco-evolutionary dynamics and feedback, which is the cyclic interaction between evolution and ecology, in natural and laboratory systems at different levels of biological organization, such as populations, communities, and ecosystems.

References

  1. ↑ Morozov, Andrew (2013-12-06). "Modelling biological evolution: recent progress, current challenges and future direction". Interface Focus. 3 (6): 20130054. doi:10.1098/rsfs.2013.0054. ISSN   2042-8898. PMC   3915852 .
  2. ↑ Sharon Kingsland (2008). "Lack, David Lambert" . Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 17. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 521–523. Retrieved 10 November 2017– via Gale Virtual Reference Library.
  3. ↑ Brown, Joel S.; Pavlovic, Noel B. (1992). "Evolution in heterogeneous environments: Effects of migration on habitat specialization". Evolutionary Ecology. 6 (5): 360–382. doi:10.1007/bf02270698..
  4. ↑ Hart, Simon P.; Usinowicz, Jacob; Levine, Jonathan M. (2017). "The spatial scales of species coexistence". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1 (8): 1066–1073. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0230-7.
  5. ↑ Bronstein, Judith. "Mutualisms and Symbioses." Oxford Bibliographies, 20 Nov 2017, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0006.xml.
  6. ↑ Akçay, Erol (2015). "Evolutionary models of mutualism". In Judith L. Bronstein (ed.). Mutualism. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 57–76.
  7. ↑ Simon Laird; Daniel Lawson; Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen (2008), "The Tangled Nature Model of Evolutionary Ecology: An Overview", in Andreas Deutsch; Rafael Bravo de la Parra; Rob J. de Boer; Odo Diekmann; Peter Jagers; Eva Kisdi; Mirjam Kretzschmar; Petr Lansky; Hans Metz (eds.), Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems, vol. II: Epidemiology, Evolution and Ecology, Immunology, Neural Systems and the Brain, and Innovative Mathematical Methods, Birkhäuser, pp. 49–62, doi:10.1007/978-0-8176-4556-4_5, ISBN   978-0-8176-4555-7, S2CID   27173854
  8. ↑ "Ecological Genetics". Wiley. September 2016. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Polymorphism". biology online. December 6, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Population Dynamics". Nicholas School of the Environment e-cology Project. Duke University. 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  11. 1 2 Mayr, Ernst (2009). "Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought". Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  12. 1 2 Slobodkin, L.B. (1993). "An Appreciation: George Evelyn Hutchinson". Journal of Animal Ecology. 62 (2): 390–394. doi:10.2307/5370. JSTOR   5370.
  13. ↑ Rockwood, Larry L. (2006). Introduction to Population Ecology. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN   978-1-4051-3263-3. OCLC   60322007.
  14. ↑ Hyland, Callen (Summer 2011). "The Art of Ecology, Writings of G. Evelyn Hutchinson". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 84 (2): 175–176. ISSN   0044-0086. PMC   3117418 .
  15. ↑ Hutchinson, G. Evelyn (1 October 1948). "Circular Causal Systems in Ecology". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 50 (4): 221–246. Bibcode:1948NYASA..50..221H. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1948.tb39854.x. ISSN   1749-6632. PMID   18886382. S2CID   29091812.
  16. ↑ "Island Biogeography". web.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  17. 1 2 Eric R. Pianka (2008). "Eric Pianka's Contributions to Ecology". FS 301. The Human Overpopulation Crisis (undergraduate course material). University of Texas Austin. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  18. ↑ Rosenzweig, Michael L. (2003). Win-win ecology: how the earth's species can survive in the midst of human enterprise . Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-515604-1. OCLC   62866022.
  19. ↑ Eric R. Pianka. 2011. Evolutionary Ecology. Seventh Edition – eBook. p. 13. Accessed 7 June 2014.
  20. ↑ Thierry Lodé 2014. Manifeste pour une écologie évolutive. Eds Odile Jacob, Paris.
  21. ↑ Lodé, Thierry; Holveck, Marie-Jeanne; Lesbarrères, David (2005). "Asynchronous arrival pattern, operational sex ratio and occurrence of multiple paternities in a territorial breeding anuran, Rana dalmatina". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 86 (2): 191–200. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2005.00521.x .
  22. ↑ Rosenzweig, Michael L. "Reconciliation ecology and the future of species diversity." Oryx, vol. 37, no. 02, 10 Feb. 2003, doi : 10.1017/s0030605303000371.
  23. ↑ Vorburger, Christoph, et al. "Comparing constitutive and induced costs of symbiont-Conferred resistance to parasitoids in aphids." Ecology and Evolution, vol. 3, no. 3, 2013, pp. 706–13. doi : 10.1002/ece3.491.
  24. ↑ Sabbah, Shai; Laria, Raico; Gray, Suzanne M; Hawryshyn, Craig W (October 28, 2010). "Functional diversity in the color vision of cichlid fishes". BMC Biology. 8: 133. doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-133 . PMC   2988715 . PMID   21029409.
  25. ↑ Seehausen; Mayhew; Alphen, J. J. M. Van (December 25, 2001). "Evolution of colour patterns in East African cichlid fish". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 12 (3): 514. doi: 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1999.00055.x . S2CID   19031252.

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