Showing papers by "Jonathan B. Losos published in 2009"

Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles

Abstract: Adaptive radiation, which results when a single ancestral species gives rise to many descendants, each adapted to a different part of the environment, is possibly the single most important source of biological diversity in the living world. One of the best-studied examples involves Caribbean Anolis lizards. With about 400 species, Anolis has played an important role in the development of ecological theory and has become a model system exemplifying the integration of ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral studies to understand evolutionary diversification. This major work, written by one of the best-known investigators of Anolis, reviews and synthesizes an immense literature. Jonathan B. Losos illustrates how different scientific approaches to the questions of adaptation and diversification can be integrated and examines evolutionary and ecological questions of interest to a broad range of biologists.

Adaptation and diversification on islands

Abstract: Charles Darwin's travels on HMS Beagle taught him that islands are an important source of evidence for evolution. Because many islands are young and have relatively few species, evolutionary adaptation and species proliferation are obvious and easy to study. In addition, the geographical isolation of many islands has allowed evolution to take its own course, free of influence from other areas, resulting in unusual faunas and floras, often unlike those found anywhere else. For these reasons, island research provides valuable insights into speciation and adaptive radiation, and into the relative importance of contingency and determinism in evolutionary diversification.

Adaptive radiation: contrasting theory with data.

Abstract: Biologists have long been fascinated by the exceptionally high diversity displayed by some evolutionary groups. Adaptive radiation in such clades is not only spectacular, but is also an extremely complex process influenced by a variety of ecological, genetic, and developmental factors and strongly dependent on historical contingencies. Using modeling approaches, we identify 10 general patterns concerning the temporal, spatial, and genetic/morphological properties of adaptive radiation. Some of these are strongly supported by empirical work, whereas for others, empirical support is more tentative. In almost all cases, more data are needed. Future progress in our understanding of adaptive radiation will be most successful if theoretical and empirical approaches are integrated, as has happened in other areas of evolutionary biology.

The Theory of Island Biogeography Revisited

Abstract: Foreword by Robert M. May vii Preface by Jonathan B. Losos and Robert E. Ricklefs xi List of Contributors xv Island Biogeography in the 1960s Theory and Experiment by Edward O. Wilson 1 Island Biogeography Theory Reticulations and Reintegration of "a Biogeography of the Species" by Mark V. Lomolino, James H. Brown, and Dov. F. Sax 13 The MacArthur- Wilson Equilibrium Model A Chronicle of What It Said and How It Was Tested by Thomas W. Schoener 52 A General Dynamic Theory of Oceanic Island Biogeography Extending the MacArthur- Wilson Theory to Accommodate the Rise and Fall of Volcanic Islands by Robert J. Whittaker, Kostas A. Triantis, and Richard J. Ladle 88 The Trophic Cascade on Islands by John Terborgh 116 Toward a Trophic Island Biogeography Reflections on the Interface of Island Biogeography and Food Web Ecology by Robert D. Holt 143 The Theories of Island Biogeography and Metapopulation Dynamics Science Marches Forward, but the Legacy of Good Ideas Lasts for a Long Time by Ilkka Hanski 186 Beyond Island Biogeography Theory Understanding Habitat Fragmentation in the Real World by William F. Laurance 214 Birds of the Solomon Islands The Domain of the Dynamic Equilibrium Theory and Assembly Rules, with Comments on the Taxon Cycle by Daniel Simberloff and Michael D. Collins 237 Neutral Theory and the Theory of Island Biogeography by Stephen P. Hubbell 264 Evolutionary Changes Following Island Colonization in Birds Empirical Insights into the Roles of Microevolutionary Processes by Sonya Clegg 293 Sympatric Speciation, Immigration, and Hybridization in Island Birds by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant 326 Island Biogeography of Remote Archipelagoes Interplay between Ecological and Evolutionary Processes by Rosemary G. Gillespie and Bruce G. Baldwin 358 Dynamics of Colonization and Extinction on Islands Insights from Lesser Antillean Birds by Robert E. Ricklefs 388 The Speciation- Area Relationship by Jonathan B. Losos and Christina E. Parent 415 Ecological and Ge ne tic Models of Diversity Lessons across Disciplines by Mark Vellend and John L. Orrock 439 Index 463

Behavioral convergence and adaptive radiation: effects of habitat use on territorial behavior in Anolis lizards.

Abstract: Most studies of adaptive radiations focus on morphological aspects of differentiation, yet behavior is also an important component of evolutionary diversification, often mediating the relationship between animal ecology and morphology. In species within radiations that are convergent in ecology and morphology, we then also expect convergence in behavior. Here, we examined 13 Anolis lizard species to determine whether territorial strategies have evolved convergently with morphology and habitat use. We evaluated two aspects of territoriality: behavioral defense of space via territorial displays, and territory overlap within and between sexes. Controlling for the phylogenetic relationships of the taxa in our study, we found that species similar in perch height and diameter convergently evolved patterns of territory overlap, whereas species similar in habitat visibility (the proportion of space that can be seen from a perch) convergently evolved display behavior. We also found that species with greater display time have more extensive male-male territory overlap. This study provides strong evidence for the role of habitat in the evolution of territoriality and suggests that the social structure of a species ultimately evolves in concert with habitat use and morphology.