Dynamics of Adaptive Radiation

Biologists have long been fascinated by the exceptionally high diversity displayed by some evolutionary groups (e.g.,Darwin’s finches, Anolis lizards, cichlid fishes of the African Great Lakes). Adaptive radiation in such clades is not onlyspectacular, but is also an extremely complex process influenced by a variety of ecological, genetic, and developmentalfactors and strongly dependent on historical contingencies. Using large-scale spatially and genetically explicit individual-based simulations, we identify a number of general patterns concerning the temporal, spatial, and genetic/morphologicalproperties of adaptive radiation. Some of these are strongly supported by empirical work, whereas for others, empiricalsupport is more tentative. In almost all cases, more data are needed. Future progress in our understanding of adaptiveradiation will be most successful if theoretical and empirical approaches are integrated, as has happened in other areas ofevolutionary biology. ReferencesGavrilets, S. and A. Vose. (2005). The dynamic patterns of adaptive radiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesUSA 102: 18040-18045.Gavrilets, S. and A. Vose. (2009). Dynamic patterns of adaptive radiation: evolution of mating preferences. In Butlin, R.K., J.Bridle, and D. Schluter (eds.) Speciation and Patterns of Diversity. Cambridge University Press, pp. 102-126.Gavrilets, S. and J. B. Losos. (2009). Adaptive radiation: contrasting theory with data. Science 323: 732-737.