Community ecology and evolutionary biology have typically been studied in relative isolation from one another (Johnson and Stinchcombe 2007 Palkovacs and Post 2008). This metaphor evokes dynamic interplays where organisms evolve in complex interactions among diverse species, and evolution affects the forms of these interactions. This approach will provide major insights into mechanistic principles for making predictions of community ecology.ĭarwin ( 1859) used the metaphor of a “tangled bank” in the last paragraph of The Origin of Species, describing an image of a “tangled bank” made up of diverse species and complex interactions that “have all been produced by laws acting around us” and “are being evolved”. Finally, I argue that future studies should investigate a feedback loop between community and evolutionary dynamics beyond unidirectional studies on effects of evolution on a community or vice versa. Furthermore, I highlight community context evolution in which multiple species interactions and community composition affect trait evolution of a community member. Also, I discuss effects of genetic variation in herbivores on plant-associated arthropod communities. I discuss roles of both genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity as a source of trait variation in plants in shaping plant-associated arthropod communities. In this paper, I review recent findings in evolutionary community ecology in plant-associated arthropods in terrestrial ecosystems.
Evolutionary community ecology addresses how intraspecific trait variation in community members is essential for predicting community properties and, how community properties are a key component of the selective forces that determine genetic and phenotypic variation in a community member.
This emerging research area, which aims to synthesize community ecology and evolutionary biology, is evolutionary community ecology. In the 21st century, researchers have attempted a synthesis between community ecology and evolutionary biology.
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