The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation

About this book

Adaptive radiation is the evolution of diversity within a rapidly multiplying lineage. It can cause a single ancestral species to differentiate into an impressively vast array of species inhabiting a variety of environments. Much of life's diversity has arisen during adaptive radiations. Some of the most famous recent examples include the East African cichlid fishes, the Hawaiian silverswords, and of course, Darwin's Galápagos finches,. The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation evaluates the causes of adaptive radiation. It focuses on the 'ecological' theory of adaptive radiation, a body of ideas that began with Darwin and was developed through the early part of the 20th Century. This theory proposes that phenotypic divergence and speciation in adaptive radiation are caused ultimately by divergent natural selection arising from differences in environment and competition between species. In The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation the author re-evaluates the ecological theory, along with its most significant extensions and challenges, in the light of all the recent evidence. This important book is the first full exploration of the causes of adaptive radiation to be published for decades, written by one of the world's best young evolutionary biologists.

Contents

1: The origins of ecological diversity
2: Detecting adaptive radiation
3: The progress of adaptive radiation
4: The ecological theory of adaptive radiation
5: Divergent natural selection between environments
6: Divergence and species interactions
7: Ecological opportunity
8: The ecological basis of speciation
9: Divergence along genetic lines of least resistance
10: The ecology of adaptive radiation

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