Evolutionary simulations clarify and reconcile biodiversity-disturbance models

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Biodiversity Science

Background:

• Species richness varies geographically, but the relationship with environmental stability is not fully understood.
• Conflicting hypotheses exist: stability-time suggests instability decreases richness, while patch-mosaic suggests it increases richness at small scales.
• Reconciling these hypotheses is crucial for understanding biodiversity distribution patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To model the impact of environmental instability on the evolution of sessile organisms.
• To reconcile the stability-time and patch-mosaic hypotheses within a unified framework.
• To identify environmental conditions influencing the biodiversity-disturbance relationship.

Main Methods:

• Utilized REvoSim, an individual-based, eco-evolutionary simulation system.
• Modeled sessile organism evolution across environments with varied instability magnitudes and scales.
• Analyzed the effects of localized and broad-scale environmental instability.

Main Results:

• Localized instability reduces biodiversity in permanently heterogeneous environments.
• Localized instability increases biodiversity in environments lacking permanent heterogeneity.
• Broad-scale instability consistently reduces biodiversity across all tested environments.

Conclusions:

• The impact of localized environmental instability on biodiversity is context-dependent.
• Broad-scale instability poses a consistent threat to biodiversity.
• Findings offer insights for conserving adaptive potential amidst the biodiversity crisis.