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Speciation Rates

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Speciation can proceed at markedly different rates, and evolutionary biologists commonly describe these differences through the models of gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Both patterns explain how new species arise, but they differ in the tempo and continuity of evolutionary change. In both cases, evolutionary change arises from heritable variation within populations, with natural selection often shaping traits that improve survival and reproduction under specific environmental conditions.

Formation of Species

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Speciation describes the formation of one or more new species from one or sometimes multiple original species. The resulting species are discrete from the parent species, and barriers to reproduction will typically exist. There are two primary mechanisms, speciation with and without geographic isolation—allopatric and sympatric speciation, respectively.Allopatric SpeciationIn allopatric speciation, gene flow between two populations of the same species is prevented by a geographic barrier, like...

Genetics of Speciation

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What is Natural Selection?

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Natural selection is an evolutionary process in which individuals with survival-promoting traits reproduce at higher rates. These favorable traits become more common within a population or species. Naturally selected traits initially arise via random genetic mutations. In order for selection to occur, there must be variation within a population, the trait controlling the variation must be heritable, and there must be an evolutionary advantage for variation in the trait.The Theory of Natural...

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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...

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Determination of the Mating Efficiency of Haploids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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What role does natural selection play in speciation?

¹Institute of Science and Technology, Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria. nick.barton@ist.ac.at

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|May 5, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Sexual populations can speciate by evolving distinct habitat preferences and resource exploitation. Concave trade-offs favor genetic variance and reproductive isolation, while convex trade-offs favor generalist genotypes, impacting speciation dynamics.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Population Genetics
Speciation

Background:

Sympatric species coexistence requires reproductive isolation and distinct resource use.
Habitat preference and survival are influenced by underlying additive genetic traits.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze a two-niche Levene model examining the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation.
To investigate the impact of trade-offs in habitat preference and viability on population genetics.

Main Methods:

Analysis of a two-niche Levene model with additive traits.
Modeling population genetics of preference and viability.
Examining trade-offs between niche settling and arbitrary viability constraints.

Main Results:

A convex trade-off leads to a generalist genotype, while a concave trade-off favors disruptive selection and genetic variance.
Habitat preference evolves to global linkage equilibrium with random mating, but pairwise linkage equilibrium within niches with assortative mating.
Concave trade-offs can induce sharp shifts between unimodal (high gene flow) and bimodal (strong isolation) distributions, contingent on genetic variance and niche survival.

Conclusions:

The evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation is strongly influenced by the shape of trade-offs in habitat preference and viability.
Assortative mating within niches promotes stronger reproductive isolation than random mating.
Speciation is facilitated by gene flow from divergent demes, particularly in parapatry compared to sympatry.