competition-colonization trade-offs, competitive uncertainty, and the evolutionary assembly of speciescompetition-colonization权衡、竞争的不确定性和物种的进化组装.pdf

Competition-Colonization Trade-Offs, Competitive Uncertainty, and the Evolutionary Assembly of Species ¤ ´ ´ Pradeep Pillai* , Frederic Guichard Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Abstract We utilize a standard competition-colonization metapopulation model in order to study the evolutionary assembly of species. Based on earlier work showing how models assuming strict competitive hierarchies will likely lead to runaway evolution and self-extinction for all species, we adopt a continuous competition function that allows for levels of uncertainty in the outcome of competition. We then, by extending the standard patch-dynamic metapopulation model in order to include evolutionary dynamics, allow for the coevolution of species into stable communities composed of species with distinct limiting similarities. Runaway evolution towards stochastic extinction then becomes a limiting case controlled by the level of competitive uncertainty. We demonstrate how intermediate competitive uncertainty maximizes the equilibrium species richness as well as maximizes the adaptive radiation and self-assembly of species under adaptive dynamics with mutations of non-negligible size. By reconciling competition-colonization tradeoff theory with co-evolutionary dynamics, our results reveal the importance of intermediate levels of competitive uncertainty for the evolutionary assembly of species. Citation: Pillai P, Guichard F (2012) Competition-Colonization Trade-Offs, Competitive Uncertainty, and the Evolutionary Assembly of Species. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33566. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033566 Editor: Nicolas Mouquet, CNRS, University of Montpellier II, France Received October 14, 2011; Accepted February 14, 2012; Published March 20, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Pillai, Guichard. This is