Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.

Optimal Foraging

Optimal Foraging

How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.

Ecological Niches

Ecological Niches

All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.

Types of Selection

Types of Selection

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...

Formation of Species

Formation of Species

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.

Frequency-dependent Selection

Frequency-dependent Selection

When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Physiology is a hidden dimension of diversity in the radiation of woodland salamanders.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Larval parasite occurrence in two killifish species, Argolebias guarani and Argolebias adrianae (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) inhabiting two ephemeral ponds.

Parasitology international·2026

Same author

Coincident transitions across elevation and origins of functional innovations drove the phenotypic and ecological diversity of lungless salamanders.

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution·2025

Same author

Phylogenomics establishes an Early Miocene reconstruction of reef vertebrate diversity.

Science advances·2025

Same author

Natural Selection after Severe Winter Favors Larger and Duller Bluebirds.

The American naturalist·2024

Same author

High-latitude ocean habitats are a crucible of fish body shape diversification.

Evolution letters·2024

Same journal

Epidemiological characteristics of amebiasis in Japan from 2001 to 2022.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Longitudinal associations of academic stress with eating related patterns, nutrition, somatic indicators, and depressive symptoms in university students: A study protocol.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Pollution removal efficiency enhancement by agricultural biomass additions in constructed wetlands: A framework integrating meta-analysis with explainable machine learning.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Insulation failure mapping on power transformer bushing using FRA and electrostatic simulation.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Enhancing medical Q&A systems with multimodal knowledge graphs and dual-layer attention mechanisms.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

UAMP: Consistent video object segmentation with uncertainty-aware memory propagation.

PloS one·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Published on: May 7, 2016

Functional diversification within a predatory species flock.

Edward D Burress¹, Alejandro Duarte, Wilson S Serra

¹Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, United States of America.

|November 27, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Ecological speciation in South American cichlid fish drives rapid diversification. This study reveals novel lotic conditions and rapid evolution of unique traits like hypertrophied lips in a predatory species flock.

More Related Videos

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Published on: May 21, 2019

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Published on: May 19, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 5, 2026

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton

Published on: May 7, 2016

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments

Published on: May 21, 2019

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies

Published on: May 19, 2018

Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Ichthyology
Ecology

Background:

Ecological speciation is a known driver of cichlid fish adaptive radiations in lakes.
Neotropical cichlids offer a less-studied system for understanding speciation.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate ecological and morphological diversification in a newly discovered lotic predatory Neotropical cichlid species flock.
Document evolutionary patterns and identify novel conditions of ecological speciation.

Main Methods:

Geometric morphometrics for skull and pharyngeal jaw morphology.
Stable isotope analysis (Carbon and Nitrogen) for diet.
Stomach content analysis.
Character evolution analysis.

Main Results:

The species flock exhibits species-specific diets and distinct skull/pharyngeal jaw morphology.
Independent evolution away from piscivory occurred multiple times within this lineage.
Derived forms show significant morphological and functional specialization compared to ancestral states.
Rapid evolution of hypertrophied lips was observed in some derived forms.

Conclusions:

Ecological speciation is a fundamental process in this South American cichlid radiation.
Novel conditions for ecological speciation include a piscivorous ancestry, lotic environments, and rapid evolution of morphological novelties.