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Ecological speciation in dynamic landscapes
Author(s) -
AGUILÉE R.,
LAMBERT A.,
CLAESSEN D.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02392.x
Subject(s) - allopatric speciation , sympatric speciation , sympatry , genetic algorithm , ecological speciation , ecology , biology , disruptive selection , parapatric speciation , incipient speciation , evolutionary biology , reproductive isolation , population , natural selection , gene flow , genetic variation , demography , sociology , gene , biochemistry
Although verbal theories of speciation consider landscape changes, ecological speciation is usually modelled in a fixed geographical arrangement. Yet landscape changes occur, at different spatio‐temporal scales, due to geological, climatic or ecological processes, and these changes result in repeated divisions and reconnections of populations. We examine the effect of such landscape dynamics on speciation. We use a stochastic, sexual population model with polygenic inheritance, embedded in a landscape dynamics model (allopatry–sympatry oscillations). We show that, under stabilizing selection, allopatry easily generates diversity, but species coexistence is evolutionarily unsustainable. Allopatry produces refuges whose persistence depends on the characteristic time scales of the landscape dynamics. Under disruptive selection, assuming that sympatric speciation is impossible due to Mendelian inheritance, allopatry is necessary for ecological differentiation. The completion of reproductive isolation, by reinforcement, then requires several sympatric phases. These results demonstrate that the succession of past, current and future geographical arrangements considerably influence the speciation process.