Community Assembly, Niche Conservatism, and Adaptive Evolution in Changing Environments

Alleles that introgressed between species can influence the evolutionary and ecological fate of species exposed to novel environments. Hybrid offspring of different species are often unfit, and yet it has long been argued that introgression can be a potent force in evolution, especially in plants. Over the last two decades, genomic data have increasingly provided evidence that introgression is a critically important source of genetic variation and that this additional variation can be useful in adaptive evolution of both animals and plants. Here, we review factors that influence the probability that foreign genetic variants provide long-term benefits (so-called adaptive introgression) and discuss their potential benefits. We find that introgression plays an important role in adaptive evolution, particularly when a species is far from its fitness optimum, such as when they expand their range or are subject to changing environments. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics, Volume 55 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Freezing and water availability structure the evolutionary diversity of trees across the Americas

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.aaz5373 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (19) ◽

pp. eaaz5373 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ricardo A. Segovia ◽

R. Toby Pennington ◽

Tim R. Baker ◽

Fernanda Coelho de Souza ◽

Danilo M. Neves ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Current Distribution ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Water Availability ◽

Tree Species ◽

Species Assemblages ◽

Niche Conservatism ◽

Dry Forests ◽

Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism ◽

Environmental Relationships ◽

Evolutionary Diversification

The historical course of evolutionary diversification shapes the current distribution of biodiversity, but the main forces constraining diversification are still a subject of debate. We unveil the evolutionary structure of tree species assemblages across the Americas to assess whether an inability to move or an inability to evolve is the predominant constraint in plant diversification and biogeography. We find a fundamental divide in tree lineage composition between tropical and extratropical environments, defined by the absence versus presence of freezing temperatures. Within the Neotropics, we uncover a further evolutionary split between moist and dry forests. Our results demonstrate that American tree lineages tend to retain their ancestral environmental relationships and that phylogenetic niche conservatism is the primary force structuring the distribution of tree biodiversity. Our study establishes the pervasive importance of niche conservatism to community assembly even at intercontinental scales.

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Linking phylogenetic niche conservatism to soil archaeal biogeography, community assembly and species coexistence

Global Ecology and Biogeography ◽

10.1111/geb.13313 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shuo Jiao ◽

Weimin Chen ◽

Gehong Wei

Keyword(s):

Community Assembly ◽

Species Coexistence ◽

Niche Conservatism ◽

Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism

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Phytophagous insect community assembly through niche conservatism on oceanic islands

Journal of Biogeography ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02792.x ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 225-235 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

David H. Hembry ◽

Tomoko Okamoto ◽

Gerald McCormack ◽

Rosemary G. Gillespie

Keyword(s):

Community Assembly ◽

Oceanic Islands ◽

Niche Conservatism ◽

Phytophagous Insect ◽

Insect Community

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Usefulness of a Concept Called Autonomous Selection

10.20944/preprints201907.0285.v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Idan S. Solon

Keyword(s):

Natural Selection ◽

Adaptive Evolution ◽

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Evolutionary Synthesis ◽

Epigenetic Mark ◽

Special Importance ◽

Contemporary Theory ◽

Extended Evolutionary Synthesis ◽

Changing Environments ◽

The Individual

Here, I introduce a concept called autonomous selection to refer to a source of selection that is part of the individuals upon which it acts. The concept is motivated by a set of phenomena with the following characteristics: Natural selection shaped a variant (e.g., gene, epigenetic mark, or combination thereof) to act in a manner that reduces the frequency of one or more heritable traits of the individual in which it is located if those traits are detrimental to individual or group fitness. Phenomena with these characteristics are peculiar to traditional evolutionary theory but have been identified rather frequently in recent decades. They are also relevant to adaptive evolution: By reducing the frequency of a trait detrimental to fitness, the variant accelerates the evolution of adaptations, which allows its holders to adapt better to constantly changing environments. The variant is shaped by (natural) selection, but also does (autonomous) selection. Several phenomena with these characteristics have been invoked by proponents of the extended evolutionary synthesis (EES). The concept of autonomous selection helps resolve some of the controversy surrounding the EES: EES proponents call attention to the incompleteness of contemporary theory, emphasizing individuals’ processes that influence which adaptations those individuals evolve. I argue for the special importance of individuals’ processes that do not just influence those individuals’ adaptations, but also accelerate the adaptive evolution of those individuals. All known phenomena that fit this description are examples of autonomous selection. Other phenomena raised by EES proponents do not meet this threshold.

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Experimentally altered rainfall regimes and host root traits affect grassland arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities

10.32942/osf.io/cu4jh ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Coline Deveautour ◽

Suzanne Donn ◽

Sally Power ◽

Kirk Barnett ◽

Jeff Powell

Keyword(s):

Fungal Community ◽

Community Assembly ◽

Root Length ◽

Specific Root Length ◽

Root Traits ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Fungal Communities ◽

Rainfall Regime ◽

Precipitation Regimes ◽

Rainfall Regimes

Future climate scenarios predict changes in rainfall regimes. These changes are expected to affect plants via effects on the expression of root traits associated with water and nutrient uptake. Associated microorganisms may also respond to these new precipitation regimes, either directly in response to changes in the soil environment or indirectly in response to altered root trait expression. We characterised arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities in an Australian grassland exposed to experimentally altered rainfall regimes. We used Illumina sequencing to assess the responses of AM fungal communities associated with four plant species sampled in different watering treatments and evaluated the extent to which shifts were associated with changes in root traits. We observed that altered rainfall regimes affected the composition but not the richness of the AM fungal communities, and we found distinctive communities in the increased rainfall treatment. We found no evidence of altered rainfall regime effects via changes in host physiology because none of the studied traits were affected by changes in rainfall. However, specific root length was observed to correlate with AM fungal richness, while concentrations of phosphorus and calcium in root tissue and the proportion of root length allocated to fine roots were correlated to community composition. Our study provides evidence that climate change and its effects on rainfall may influence AM fungal community assembly, as do plant traits related to plant nutrition and water uptake. We did not find evidence that host responses to altered rainfall drive AM fungal community assembly in this grassland ecosystem.

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