The coevolutionary consequences of biodiversity change
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2025

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
Published on: August 18, 2023
Anna-Liisa Laine1, Jason M Tylianakis2
1Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Viikinkaari 1 (PO Box 65), University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract:
Coevolutionary selection is a powerful process shaping species interactions and biodiversity. Anthropogenic global environmental change is reshaping planetary biodiversity, including by altering the structure and intensity of interspecific interactions. However, remarkably little is understood of how coevolutionary selection is changing in the process. Here, we outline three interrelated pathways - change in evolutionary potential, change in community composition, and shifts in interaction trait distributions - that are expected to redirect coevolutionary selection under biodiversity change. Assessing how both ecological and evolutionary rules governing species interactions are disrupted under anthropogenic global change is of paramount importance to understand the past, present, and future of Earth's biodiversity.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Threats to Biodiversity
What is Biodiversity?
The Evidence for Evolution
What is Conservation Biology?
What is Evolutionary History?
Speciation Rates

