Heritable trait variation is a central and necessary ingredient of evolution. Trait variation also directly affects ecological processes, generating a clear link between evolutionary and ecological dynamics. Despite the changes in variation that occur through selection, drift, mutation, and recombination, current eco‐evolutionary models usually fail to track how variation changes through time. Moreover, eco‐evolutionary models assume fitness functions for each trait and each ecological context, which often do not have empirical validation. We introduce a new type of model, Gillespie eco‐evolutionary models (
Evolution is a fundamentally population level process in which variation, drift and selection produce both temporal and spatial patterns of change. Statistical model fitting is now commonly used to estimate which kind of evolutionary process best explains patterns of change through time using models like Brownian motion, stabilizing selection (Ornstein–Uhlenbeck) and directional selection on traits measured from stratigraphic sequences or on phylogenetic trees. But these models assume that the traits possessed by a species are homogeneous. Spatial processes such as dispersal, gene flow and geographical range changes can produce patterns of trait evolution that do not fit the expectations of standard models, even when evolution at the local‐population level is governed by drift or a typical
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10080401
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Palaeontology
- Volume:
- 62
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0031-0239
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 175-195
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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