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Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities

Understanding how natural selection drives evolution is a key challenge in evolutionary biology. Most studies of adaptation focus on how a single environmental factor, such as increased temperature, affects evolution within a single species. The biological relevance of these experiments is limited b...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Turcotte, Martin M., Corrin, Michael S. C., Johnson, Marc T. J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352851/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001332
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author Turcotte, Martin M.
Corrin, Michael S. C.
Johnson, Marc T. J.
author_facet Turcotte, Martin M.
Corrin, Michael S. C.
Johnson, Marc T. J.
author_sort Turcotte, Martin M.
collection PubMed
description Understanding how natural selection drives evolution is a key challenge in evolutionary biology. Most studies of adaptation focus on how a single environmental factor, such as increased temperature, affects evolution within a single species. The biological relevance of these experiments is limited because nature is infinitely more complex. Most species are embedded within communities containing many species that interact with one another and the physical environment. To understand the evolutionary significance of such ecological complexity, experiments must test the evolutionary impact of interactions among multiple species during adaptation. Here we highlight an experiment that manipulates species composition and tracks evolutionary responses within each species, while testing for the mechanisms by which species interact and adapt to their environment. We also discuss limitations of previous studies of adaptive evolution and emphasize how an experimental evolution approach can circumvent such shortcomings. Understanding how community composition acts as a selective force will improve our ability to predict how species adapt to natural and human-induced environmental change.
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spelling pubmed-33528512012-05-21 Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities Turcotte, Martin M. Corrin, Michael S. C. Johnson, Marc T. J. PLoS Biol Primer Understanding how natural selection drives evolution is a key challenge in evolutionary biology. Most studies of adaptation focus on how a single environmental factor, such as increased temperature, affects evolution within a single species. The biological relevance of these experiments is limited because nature is infinitely more complex. Most species are embedded within communities containing many species that interact with one another and the physical environment. To understand the evolutionary significance of such ecological complexity, experiments must test the evolutionary impact of interactions among multiple species during adaptation. Here we highlight an experiment that manipulates species composition and tracks evolutionary responses within each species, while testing for the mechanisms by which species interact and adapt to their environment. We also discuss limitations of previous studies of adaptive evolution and emphasize how an experimental evolution approach can circumvent such shortcomings. Understanding how community composition acts as a selective force will improve our ability to predict how species adapt to natural and human-induced environmental change. Public Library of Science 2012-05-15 /pmc/articles/PMC3352851/ /pubmed/22615542 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001332 Text en Turcotte et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Primer
Turcotte, Martin M.
Corrin, Michael S. C.
Johnson, Marc T. J.
Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title_full Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title_fullStr Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title_full_unstemmed Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title_short Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities
title_sort adaptive evolution in ecological communities
topic Primer
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352851/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615542
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001332
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