Evolutionary ecology

About: Evolutionary ecology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3424 publications have been published within this topic receiving 243082 citations.

Model selection in ecology and evolution

Abstract: Recently, researchers in several areas of ecology and evolution have begun to change the way in which they analyze data and make biological inferences. Rather than the traditional null hypothesis testing approach, they have adopted an approach called model selection, in which several competing hypotheses are simultaneously confronted with data. Model selection can be used to identify a single best model, thus lending support to one particular hypothesis, or it can be used to make inferences based on weighted support from a complete set of competing models. Model selection is widely accepted and well developed in certain fields, most notably in molecular systematics and mark-recapture analysis. However, it is now gaining support in several other areas, from molecular evolution to landscape ecology. Here, we outline the steps of model selection and highlight several ways that it is now being implemented. By adopting this approach, researchers in ecology and evolution will find a valuable alternative to traditional null hypothesis testing, especially when more than one hypothesis is plausible.

Ecology of Seed Dispersal

Abstract: Identification of the selective forces on plant dispersal engenders theoretical argument, empirical study, and speculation. We separate evidence, testable hypotheses, and conjecture surrounding two major questions in dispersal ecology. The first asks what ecological, and ultimately evolutionary, advantages exist in seed dispersal. Astonishingly little is known about the advantages to a parent plant that are actually conferred by investment in dispersal structures. Does dispersal enable seeds and ultimately seedlings to escape mortality near the parent? Is continual recolonization of unstable habitats the primary advantage? Must seeds find rare microhabitats suitable for reestablishment? Such issues are addressed through joint consideration of dispersal and establishment-those stages both mediated by parental provisioning and subject to the highest mortality in the life of a plant. The second broad question asks what general and explicit environmental forces influence the timing and mode of dispersal. Do climates or seasons favor one dispersal mode over another? Do differences in number, size, morphology, or nutritional quality of fruits influence frugivore choice, and consequently differential dispersal of species or individuals within species? Studies of dispersal process and mode should be intimately connected. A general objective of this paper is to explore the degree to which they are integrated and, in so doing, to catalyze their union. We emphasize topics most in need of critical attention: the evolutionary ecology of dispersal process and mode. Excellent recent reviews consider such related topics as dispersal mechanism (131, 184), seed dormancy (1, 30), phytogeography (11, 115, 146), masting and predator satiation (105, 156), and succession (68, 69, 189).

Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology

Abstract: Parasitoids lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other species of insects, and the parasitoid larvae develop by feeding on the host, causing its eventual death. Known for a long time to applied biologists for their importance in regulating the population densities of economic pests, parasitoids have recently proven to be valuable tools in testing many aspects of evolutionary theory. This book synthesizes the work of both schools of parasitoid biology and asks how a consideration of evolutionary biology can help us understand the behavior, ecology, and diversity of the approximately one to two million species of parasitoids found on earth. After a general introduction to parasitoid natural history and taxonomy, the first part of the book treats the different components of the reproductive strategy of parasitoids: searching for a host, host selection, clutch size, and the sex ratio. Subsequent chapters discuss pathogens and non-Mendelian genetic elements that affect sexual reproduction; evolutionary aspects of the physiological interactions between parasitoid and host; mating strategies; and life history theory and community ecology. A special effort is made to discuss the theoretical background to the subject, but without the use of mathematics.