Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity.
Non-uniform rates of morphological evolution and evolutionary increases in organismal complexity, captured in metaphors like "adaptive zones", "punctuated equilibrium" and "blunderbuss patterns", require more elaborate explanations than a simple gradual accumulation of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-10-01
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| Series: | PLoS Computational Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007388 |
| _version_ | 1818348822486581248 |
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| author | Iaroslav Ispolatov Evgeniia Alekseeva Michael Doebeli |
| author_facet | Iaroslav Ispolatov Evgeniia Alekseeva Michael Doebeli |
| author_sort | Iaroslav Ispolatov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Non-uniform rates of morphological evolution and evolutionary increases in organismal complexity, captured in metaphors like "adaptive zones", "punctuated equilibrium" and "blunderbuss patterns", require more elaborate explanations than a simple gradual accumulation of mutations. Here we argue that non-uniform evolutionary increases in phenotypic complexity can be caused by a threshold-like response to growing ecological pressures resulting from evolutionary diversification at a given level of complexity. Acquisition of a new phenotypic feature allows an evolving species to escape this pressure but can typically be expected to carry significant physiological costs. Therefore, the ecological pressure should exceed a certain level to make such an acquisition evolutionarily successful. We present a detailed quantitative description of this process using a microevolutionary competition model as an example. The model exhibits sequential increases in phenotypic complexity driven by diversification at existing levels of complexity and a resulting increase in competitive pressure, which can push an evolving species over the barrier of physiological costs of new phenotypic features. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T17:56:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-23207861e6d5464d8d9dfc60431c925e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1553-734X 1553-7358 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T17:56:10Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Computational Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-23207861e6d5464d8d9dfc60431c925e2022-12-21T23:36:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Computational Biology1553-734X1553-73582019-10-011510e100738810.1371/journal.pcbi.1007388Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity.Iaroslav IspolatovEvgeniia AlekseevaMichael DoebeliNon-uniform rates of morphological evolution and evolutionary increases in organismal complexity, captured in metaphors like "adaptive zones", "punctuated equilibrium" and "blunderbuss patterns", require more elaborate explanations than a simple gradual accumulation of mutations. Here we argue that non-uniform evolutionary increases in phenotypic complexity can be caused by a threshold-like response to growing ecological pressures resulting from evolutionary diversification at a given level of complexity. Acquisition of a new phenotypic feature allows an evolving species to escape this pressure but can typically be expected to carry significant physiological costs. Therefore, the ecological pressure should exceed a certain level to make such an acquisition evolutionarily successful. We present a detailed quantitative description of this process using a microevolutionary competition model as an example. The model exhibits sequential increases in phenotypic complexity driven by diversification at existing levels of complexity and a resulting increase in competitive pressure, which can push an evolving species over the barrier of physiological costs of new phenotypic features.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007388 |
| spellingShingle | Iaroslav Ispolatov Evgeniia Alekseeva Michael Doebeli Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. PLoS Computational Biology |
| title | Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. |
| title_full | Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. |
| title_fullStr | Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. |
| title_short | Competition-driven evolution of organismal complexity. |
| title_sort | competition driven evolution of organismal complexity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007388 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT iaroslavispolatov competitiondrivenevolutionoforganismalcomplexity AT evgeniiaalekseeva competitiondrivenevolutionoforganismalcomplexity AT michaeldoebeli competitiondrivenevolutionoforganismalcomplexity |