Contrasting ecological niches lead to great postzygotic ecological isolation: a case of hybridization between carnivorous and herbivorous cyprinid fishes

When ecological isolation breaks down: sexual isolation is an incomplete barrier to hybridization between Rhagoletis species

Question: Environmental disturbance can disrupt habitat choice as an ecological barrier to hybridization between host-specific parasites that mate on their host. Is environmentindependent mate choice a sufficient barrier to prevent hybridization when ecological isolation breaks down? Hypothesis: Males and females will not discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in th...

Ecological Niches and Diversity Maintenance

Why do some places have much higher diversity than others? Explaining patterns of species diversity on the earth is a problem of long-standing for ecologists. Numerous diversity patterns have been documented [1], but the mechanisms behind these patterns remain poorly understood. If we knew the mechanisms, surer decisions in conservation and management would be possible. Understanding can be sou...

Mechanistic and Correlative Models of Ecological Niches

2 Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078 USA The suite of factors that drives where and under what conditions a species occurs has become the focus of intense research interest. Three general categories of methods have emerged by which researchers address questions in this area: mechanistic models of species’ requirements in terms of environment...

Contrasting ecological implications of food limitation in sea urchins and herbivorous gastropods

Populations of sea urchins often fluctuate greatly in density. The density of sea urchins is usually inversely correlated with the abundance of macrolagae. It is argued that fluctuations in density are a predictable consequence of the unique morphology and physiology of sea urchins. An extraordinary ability to accomodate food Limitation through variations in growth rate means that surv~vorship ...

3 Ecological Niches and Diversity Maintenance