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Invasion implies substitution in ecological communities with class-structured populations.
Tadeas Priklopil1, Laurent Lehmann1
1Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Theoretical Population Biology
|May 11, 2020
Summary
The "invasion implies substitution" principle, crucial for understanding evolutionary change, is generalized to complex ecological communities. This principle explains how new mutations drive gradual phenotypic evolution in structured populations.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Theoretical ecology
- Mathematical biology
Background:
- Long-term evolution of quantitative traits is explained by the fixation of new mutations.
- The
- invasion implies substitution
- principle
- justifies this gradual change.
- Previous models did not fully account for population structure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To clarify the generality of the
- invasion implies substitution
- principle
- in diverse ecological settings.
- To find a constant representation of the selection gradient.
Main Methods:
- Geometric singular perturbation methods.
- Analysis of selection gradients in ecological communities.
Main Results:
- The
- invasion implies substitution
- principle
- is generalized to multispecies communities with demographic classes.
- A constant selection gradient is derived, dependent on resident dynamics.
Conclusions:
- The study provides theoretical foundations for evolutionary ecology.
- Confirms the broad applicability of the
- invasion implies substitution
- principle
- in complex systems.
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