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Adaptive radiation in a heterogeneous environment

Author

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  • Paul B. Rainey

    (University of Oxford)

  • Michael Travisano

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

Successive adaptive radiations have played a pivotal role in the evolution of biological diversity1,2,3. The effects of adaptive radiation are often seen4,5,6, but the underlying causes are difficult to disentangle and remain unclear7,8,9. Here we examine directly therole of ecological opportunity and competition in driving genetic diversification. We use the common aerobic bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens10, which evolves rapidly under novel environmental conditions to generate a large repertoire of mutants11,12,13. When provided with ecological opportunity (afforded by spatial structure), identical populations diversify morphologically, but when ecological opportunity is restricted there is no such divergence. In spatially structured environments, the evolution of variant morphs follows a predictable sequence and we show that competition among the newly evolved niche-specialists maintains this variation. These results demonstrate that the elementary processes of mutation and selection alone are suifficient to promote rapid proliferation of new designs and support the theory that trade-offs in competitive ability drive adaptive radiation14,15.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul B. Rainey & Michael Travisano, 1998. "Adaptive radiation in a heterogeneous environment," Nature, Nature, vol. 394(6688), pages 69-72, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:394:y:1998:i:6688:d:10.1038_27900
    DOI: 10.1038/27900
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Y. Alekseeva & Anneloes E. Groenenboom & Eddy J. Smid & Sijmen E. Schoustra, 2021. "Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in Microbial Communities from Spontaneous Fermented Foods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Amandine Nucci & Eduardo P. C. Rocha & Olaya Rendueles, 2022. "Adaptation to novel spatially-structured environments is driven by the capsule and alters virulence-associated traits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Nicholas Leiby & Christopher J Marx, 2014. "Metabolic Erosion Primarily Through Mutation Accumulation, and Not Tradeoffs, Drives Limited Evolution of Substrate Specificity in Escherichia coli," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-10, February.
    4. N. Frazão & A. Konrad & M. Amicone & E. Seixas & D. Güleresi & M. Lässig & I. Gordo, 2022. "Two modes of evolution shape bacterial strain diversity in the mammalian gut for thousands of generations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Safar Vafadar & Maryam Shahdoust & Ata Kalirad & Pooya Zakeri & Mehdi Sadeghi, 2021. "Competitive exclusion during co-infection as a strategy to prevent the spread of a virus: A computational perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Ryo Mizuuchi & Taro Furubayashi & Norikazu Ichihashi, 2022. "Evolutionary transition from a single RNA replicator to a multiple replicator network," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Griswold, Cortland K. & Henry, Thomas A., 2012. "Epistasis can increase multivariate trait diversity in haploid non-recombining populations," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 209-221.
    8. M. Doebeli & U. Dieckmann, 2000. "Evolutionary Branching and Sympatric Speciation Caused by Different Types of Ecological Interactions," Working Papers ir00040, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
    9. Kyle A Young & Jos Snoeks & Ole Seehausen, 2009. "Morphological Diversity and the Roles of Contingency, Chance and Determinism in African Cichlid Radiations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(3), pages 1-8, March.

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