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Evolution of niche width and adaptive diversification.

Martin Ackermann1, Michael Doebeli

  • 1Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, California 92093, USA. MKAckerm@ucsd.edu

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|February 9, 2005
PubMed
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Resource competition drives adaptive diversification when consumer niche widths are narrow. Costs associated with widening the niche promote this evolutionary splitting, while benefits eliminate it, refining conditions for speciation.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology

Background:

  • Resource competition is a known driver of adaptive diversification, where consumer populations split into diverging lineages.
  • Diversification is generally predicted when consumers utilize a narrow resource range, resulting in a small niche width.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of evolving niche width on adaptive diversification under resource competition.
  • To determine how costs or benefits associated with niche widening influence diversification outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Employed analytical and numerical methods to model the evolutionary dynamics of niche width and diversification.
  • Examined scenarios with and without costs for niche widening.

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Main Results:

  • If widening the niche incurred no cost, consumers evolved wide niches, eliminating disruptive selection and preventing adaptive diversification.
  • If widening the niche was costly, narrow niche widths were maintained, facilitating adaptive diversification in niche position.
  • Adaptive diversification is favored when niche width is fixed and narrow, or when its evolution is subject to costs.

Conclusions:

  • The evolution of niche width critically influences adaptive diversification under resource competition.
  • Costs associated with niche widening are essential for promoting diversification, refining theoretical predictions.
  • These findings offer testable hypotheses for experimental investigations into the mechanisms of adaptive speciation.