Niche co-evolution in consumer-resource communities
Författare
Summary, in English
Problem: Niche co-evolution deals simultaneously with the number and the character of species within a community. How can a community of predators and prey adaptively radiate to fill available niches? How many niches are there? And, can adaptive speciation at evolutionary
branching points successfully fill the niches of the ESS?
Model features: We use a predator–prey model with one fitness-generating function, a G-function, for the prey and a separate one for the predators. Species diversity can emerge from within and between the two G-functions. Two niche-breadth parameters (prey niche breadth
and predator niche breadth) determine the number of prey and predator species at the ESS.
Mathematical method: To identify the ESS community for a given pair of niche parameters, we use a numerical approach. All possible strategies can invade at all times. We also apply adaptive dynamics, adaptive speciation, and the invasion of completely novel species to see how a starting community of a single prey and a single predator species can radiate to become the
ESS community.
Conclusion: In the absence of speciation or species invasions, adaptive dynamics cause the existing species to evolve to convergent stable niche archetypes. These archetypes may be local ESS strategies or evolutionary branching points (i.e. convergent stable fitness minima). Initially, adaptive speciation at branching points suffices to increase diversity from one set of niche
archetypes to the next. On approaching the ESS community, speciation at one trophic level makes possible further diversification at the other trophic level. The final species to complete an ESS community may require invasions from species with quite different strategy values to those present in the community. In the state space of prey and predator niche breadth, we can plot
regions of iso-diversity for the ESS communities of prey and predators.
branching points successfully fill the niches of the ESS?
Model features: We use a predator–prey model with one fitness-generating function, a G-function, for the prey and a separate one for the predators. Species diversity can emerge from within and between the two G-functions. Two niche-breadth parameters (prey niche breadth
and predator niche breadth) determine the number of prey and predator species at the ESS.
Mathematical method: To identify the ESS community for a given pair of niche parameters, we use a numerical approach. All possible strategies can invade at all times. We also apply adaptive dynamics, adaptive speciation, and the invasion of completely novel species to see how a starting community of a single prey and a single predator species can radiate to become the
ESS community.
Conclusion: In the absence of speciation or species invasions, adaptive dynamics cause the existing species to evolve to convergent stable niche archetypes. These archetypes may be local ESS strategies or evolutionary branching points (i.e. convergent stable fitness minima). Initially, adaptive speciation at branching points suffices to increase diversity from one set of niche
archetypes to the next. On approaching the ESS community, speciation at one trophic level makes possible further diversification at the other trophic level. The final species to complete an ESS community may require invasions from species with quite different strategy values to those present in the community. In the state space of prey and predator niche breadth, we can plot
regions of iso-diversity for the ESS communities of prey and predators.
Publiceringsår
2009
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
305-323
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Evolutionary Ecology Research
Volym
11
Issue
2
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Evolutionary Ecology Ltd
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Nyckelord
- adaptive radiation
- co-evolution
- evolutionarily stable strategy
- evolutionary dynamics
- fitness-generating function
- niche archetypes
- niche co-evolution
- species diversity.
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Theoretical Population Ecology and Evolution Group
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1522-0613