Regional neutrality evolves through local adaptive niche evolution.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity in natural systems can be maintained either because niche differentiation among competitors facilitates stable coexistence or because equal fitness among neutral species allows for their long-term cooccurrence despite a slow drift toward extinction. Whereas the relative importance of these two ecological mechanisms has been well-studied in the absence of evolution, the role of local adaptive evolution in maintaining biological diversity through these processes is less clear. Here we study the contribution of local adaptive evolution to coexistence in a landscape of interconnected patches subject to disturbance. Under these conditions, early colonists to empty patches may adapt to local conditions sufficiently fast to prevent successful colonization by other preadapted species.

SUBMITTER: Leibold MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6377500 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature