MBI Videos
Videos by Workshop 5: Coevolution and the Ecological Structure of Plant-insect Communities
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Trait Matching: What does it tell us?
Bruce AndersonRecently, several studies have used the geographic matching of morphological traits (e.g. proboscis versus corolla length) to infer that coevolution has taken place between two interacting organisms. However, geographic trait matching alone is not sound evidence for coevolution because it is not a mandatory end point for coevolutionary relationships, and nor is coevolution... -
Red King predators, evolution of mutualistic antagonists and coevolution patterns between mutualists and antagonists
Claire de MazancourtIn this talk I will present several theories related to co-evolution between plants and insects. First I will present a model of predator-prey coevolution, showing that rapid evolution in the predator can lead to prey diversification and a decrease in the number of preys available to the predator. This correspond to a "Red King" scenario, where rapid evolution le... -
The Coevolution of Competitors in a Community Context
Peter AbramsMost theoretical work on the evolution of competing species has used models having the minimum number of species (i.e. two), and has not represented either enemies or resources of those two consumer species. Empirical studies of character displacement involve species that share multiple resources, and usually multiple predators as well. Although some prominent experimental... -
Reciprocal adapations as a key factor in the stabilization of a defensive ant-plant mutualism
Martin HeilAnt-plants are important structural elements in many disturbed tropical ecosystems and the mutualism between plants and their defending ant symbionts is increasingly being used as a model to study general factors that stabilize a horizontally transmitted mutualisms. As these mutualisms must be established anew in every consecutive generation they are particularly prone to ... -
The consequences of exploitation for plant-pollinator mutualisms
Emily JonesSpecies exist in complex biotic environments, engaging in a variety of antagonistic and cooperative interactions that contribute to their population and evolutionary dynamics. However, studies tend to concentrate on each pairwise interaction in isolation. By doing so, they may overlook significant feedbacks between the interactions. In this talk, I will focus on plant-poll... -
Evolution of virulence and mixed infections
Jacqui ShykoffOne very robust result of models of host-parasite co-evolution is that under regimes of mixed infection, where different strains of parasites compete for limiting host resources, parasites should evolve higher virulence strategies. This has wide reaching ramifications for optimal parasite strategies, since parasites are seldom alone in exploiting hosts. However, not all in... -
Coevolution in plant-pollinator networks: the impact of network properties
Franck JabotIn many plant-pollinator systems, interactions present a high degree of generalism, so that coevolution should be studied at the community level. Indeed intraspecific trait variation in such systems may both lead to variation in the gains that individuals are drawing from their interactions, and to variation in their choice/attraction of interaction partners. In this contr... -
A coevolutionary resolution to the paradox of concave selection?
Paul HohenloheThe adaptive landscape, long a useful metaphor, is also a rigorous tool for understanding evolution when it is linked to empirical measurements of fitness. However, empirical estimates of fitness surfaces are often concave, implying an evolutionarily unstable situation under general conditions in the short term, and untenable extrapolations to longer-term evolution under t... -
Exploring selection mosaics and coevolution in multiespesific generalized systems
Jose GomezThe geographic mosaic theory of coevolution (GMTC) considers that populations differ in evolutionary dynamics due to spatial variation in selective regimes. According to GMTC, three components of geographic structure drive the overall coevolutionary dynamics of such interactions: selection mosaics, coevolutionary hotspots, and trait remixing. Furthermore, the GMTC suggests... -
What do studies of local adaptation and trait matching reveal about the coevolutionary process?
Scott NuismerNo description available.... -
Measuring coevolutionary selection in plant-insect interactions
Ben RidenhourNo description available.... -
Exploring the interplay between ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions
Marc Johnson(Co)evolutionary ecologists have long appreciated that ecology drives evolution, and that evolution ultimately shapes the ecological processes and patterns of populations and communities over long periods of time. However, it remains unclear how these two processes interact to affects the ecology, evolution and coevolution of communities over short timescales (e.g. one to ... -
Coevolution and community complexity
Sharon StraussOur best examples of coevolution come from simplified interactions, but communities are rarely simple. Are complex communities less coevolved, or is coevolution just harder to recognize? I discuss coevolution and community complexity in light of both natural and invaded systems....
