Ecological interactions can cause evolutionary change
Many of the interactions in the natural world result from the efforts of organisms to do three things: to gain energy, to avoid being eaten, and to reproduce. These interactions can drive evolutionary change.
We've already seen (in Concept 6.4) how predator-prey interactions caused long-term, large-scale, reciprocal evolution in which predators became more efficient at capturing prey and prey became more adept at escaping their predators. Predator-prey interactions continuously promote evolutionary change, as do a broad range of other ecological interactions, including herbivory, parasitism, competition, and mutualism (see Unit 4).Studies of speciation have led to a similar conclusion: it may be common for speciation to be caused by ecological factors (Schluter 1998; Funk et al. 2006). The effect of ecology on evolution is also clear from studies of relatively small evolutionary changes in populations. Examples discussed earlier in this chapter include directional selection on soapberry bugs caused by interactions with their food plants (see Figure 6.11) and genetic drift in greater prairie chickens caused by habitat loss (see Figure 6.8).
More on the topic Ecological interactions can cause evolutionary change:
- Evolution can alter ecological interactions
- CONCEPT 15.2 Each partner in a mutualistic interaction acts in ways that serve its own ecological and evolutionary interests.
- Ecological Consequences of Positive Interactions
- Climate change will continue to have ecological consequences
- CONCEPT 6.5 Ecological interactions and evolution exert a profound influence on one another.
- Ecological responses to climate change are occurring
- Environmental context can change the outcome of species interactions
- Parasites Can Change Ecological Communities
- CONCEPT 15.3 Positive interactions affect the abundances and distributions of populations as well as the structure of ecological communities.
- A general theme that runs through this book is that ecological interactions can affect the distributions and abundances of species, affecting communities and ecosystems.
- Throughout this book, we have emphasized the role that climate plays in ecological processes, including the distributions and physiological performance of organisms, the rates of resource supply, and the outcomes of biological interactions such as competition.
- CONCEPT 13.5 Parasites can alter the outcomes of species interactions, thereby causing communities to change.
- Fragmentation alters evolutionary processes
- Eco-evolutionary feedbacks can occur over short periods of time
-
General ecology -
-
Conflictology -
Ecology -
Economy -
Finance -
History -
Law -
Medicine -
Philosophy -
Religious studies -