The ecological causes of evolution
- PMID: 21763030
- DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.06.009
The ecological causes of evolution
Abstract
Natural selection is the process that results in adaptive evolution, but it is not the cause of evolution. The cause of natural selection and, therefore, of adaptive evolution, is any environmental factor (agent of selection) that results in differential fitness among phenotypes. Surprisingly little is known about selective agents, how they interact or their relative importance across taxa. Here, I outline three approaches for their investigation: functional analysis, correlational analysis and experimental manipulation. By refocusing attention on the structure and consequences of ecological variation, a better characterisation of selective agents would improve understanding of natural selection and evolution, including adaptive radiation, coevolution, the niche, the evolutionary ecology of the ranges of species and their response to environmental change.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Comment in
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O matrices and eco-evolutionary dynamics.Trends Ecol Evol. 2012 Mar;27(3):139-40; author reply 140. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2011.11.013. Epub 2011 Dec 22. Trends Ecol Evol. 2012. PMID: 22196740 No abstract available.
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