Ecology and speciation

Abstract

Recent studies on diverse taxa suggest that natural selection caused by shifts in ecology or invasions of novel habitats plays an important role in adaptive divergence and speciation. Exciting new studies integrating approaches from both the field and the laboratory suggest that ecological shifts can result in extremely rapid rates of evolutionary divergence. Although experimental approaches that link rapid ecological divergence to reproductive isolation and speciation are in their infancy, recent research indicates those approaches that will be most useful.