Multiple Fitness Peaks on the Adaptive Landscape Drive Adaptive Radiation in the Wild

Martin, Christopher H.; Wainwright, Peter C.

doi:10.1126/science.1227710

Cited by 166 publications

(239 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Our approach coarse grains over smaller branch lengths, which do not contribute substantially to branch-length weighted patterns of phylogenetic diversity, resulting in the generation of polytomies of varying sizes, and our approach therefore avoids trying to resolve these polytomies. The resulting bursts of branching are reminiscent of adaptive radiations (40)(41)(42) and may also be relevant to our understanding of power law scaling in extinction events (43,44). These patterns also address the long-standing debate over whether evolution proceeds gradually or is punctuated by sudden changes (45).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Backbones of evolutionary history test biodiversity theory for microbes

O’Dwyer

Kembel

Sharpton

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Identifying the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that determine biological diversity is a central question in ecology. In microbial ecology, phylogenetic diversity is an increasingly common and relevant means of quantifying community diversity, particularly given the challenges in defining unambiguous species units from environmental sequence data. We explore patterns of phylogenetic diversity across multiple bacterial communities drawn from different habitats and compare these data to evolutionary trees generated using theoretical models of biodiversity. We have two central findings. First, although on finer scales the empirical trees are highly idiosyncratic, on coarse scales the backbone of these trees is simple and robust, consistent across habitats, and displays bursts of diversification dotted throughout. Second, we find that these data demonstrate a clear departure from the predictions of standard neutral theories of biodiversity and that an alternative family of generalized models provides a qualitatively better description. Together, these results lay the groundwork for a theoretical framework to connect ecological mechanisms to observed phylogenetic patterns in microbial communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Backbones of evolutionary history test biodiversity theory for microbes

O’Dwyer

Kembel

Sharpton

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In contrast with the comparatively frequent examples for bimodal population divergence, the importance of disruptive ecological selection in complex species flock formation has only rarely been demonstrated [17,68]. Among the available examples are two bird radiations, Geospiza finches and Loxia crossbills, where disruptive selection acts on beak size [14,15].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rugged adaptive landscapes shape a complex, sympatric radiation

Pfaender¹,

Hadiaty

Schliewen

et al. 2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Strong disruptive ecological selection can initiate speciation, even in the absence of physical isolation of diverging populations. Species evolving under disruptive ecological selection are expected to be ecologically distinct but, at least initially, genetically weakly differentiated. Strong selection and the associated fitness advantages of narrowly adapted individuals, coupled with assortative mating, are predicted to overcome the homogenizing effects of gene flow. Theoretical plausibility is, however, contrasted by limited evidence for the existence of rugged adaptive landscapes in nature. We found evidence for multiple, disruptive ecological selection regimes that have promoted divergence in the sympatric, incipient radiation of 'sharpfin' sailfin silverside fishes in ancient Lake Matano (Sulawesi, Indonesia). Various modes of ecological specialization have led to adaptive morphological differences between the species, and differently adapted morphs display significant but incomplete reproductive isolation. Individual fitness and variation in morphological key characters show that disruptive selection shapes a rugged adaptive landscape in this small but complex incipient lake fish radiation.

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“…Some researchers have even advised against doing comparative studies if replication is not available [4]. Researchers have taken advantage of such 'convergent adaptation' in many studies [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]; as just one example, conclusions regarding the adaptive nature of many traits associated with Caribbean Anolis lizard ecomorphs are greatly strengthened by the fact that all ecomorphs have evolved multiple times. Without the independent evolution of these correlated suites of traits, the Caribbean Anolis system would be just one example among many lizard ecomorphological patterns, rather than the model system in adaptive radiation that it is [6,7,9,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What does convergent evolution mean? The interpretation of convergence and its implications in the search for limits to evolution

Stayton

2015

Interface Focus.

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Convergent evolution is central to the study of life's evolutionary history. Researchers have documented the ubiquity of convergence and have used this ubiquity to make inferences about the nature of limits on evolution. However, these inferences are compromised by unrecognized inconsistencies in the definitions, measures, significance tests and inferred causes of convergent evolution. I review these inconsistencies and provide recommendations for standardizing studies of convergence. A fundamental dichotomy exists between definitions that describe convergence as a pattern and those that describe it as a pattern caused by a particular process. When this distinction is not acknowledged it becomes easy to assume that a pattern of convergence indicates that a particular process has been active, leading researchers away from alternative explanations. Convergence is not necessarily caused by limits to evolution, either adaptation or constraint; even substantial amounts of convergent evolution can be generated by a purely stochastic process. In the absence of null models, long lists of examples of convergent events do not necessarily indicate that convergence or any evolutionary process is ubiquitous throughout the history of life. Pattern-based definitions of convergence, coupled with quantitative measures and null models, must be applied before drawing inferences regarding large-scale limits to evolution.

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Multiple Fitness Peaks on the Adaptive Landscape Drive Adaptive Radiation in the Wild

Cited by 166 publications

References 42 publications

Backbones of evolutionary history test biodiversity theory for microbes

Backbones of evolutionary history test biodiversity theory for microbes

Rugged adaptive landscapes shape a complex, sympatric radiation

What does convergent evolution mean? The interpretation of convergence and its implications in the search for limits to evolution

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