Niche conservatism as an emerging principle in ecology and conservation biology

The diversity of life is ultimately generated by evolution, and much attention has focused on the rapid evolution of ecological traits. Yet, the tendency for many ecological traits to instead remain similar over time [niche conservatism (NC)] has many consequences for the fundamental patterns and pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters Vol. 13; no. 10; pp. 1310 - 1324
Main Authors: Wiens, John J, Ackerly, David D, Allen, Andrew P, Anacker, Brian L, Buckley, Lauren B, Cornell, Howard V, Damschen, Ellen I, Jonathan Davies, T, Grytnes, John-Arvid, Harrison, Susan P, Hawkins, Bradford A, Holt, Robert D, McCain, Christy M, Stephens, Patrick R
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2010
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Blackwell
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Climate Change
Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change
community assembly
Conservation
Conservation biology
Conservation of Natural Resources
disease ecology
Earth, ocean, space
Ecological function
Ecology
Ecology - trends
Ecosystem
ecosystems
Evolutionary biology
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Food Chain
Food webs
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Global warming
habitat destruction
habitats
Host-Parasite Interactions
Introduced Species
Invasive species
Meteorology
Models, Biological
niche conservatism
Niches
Phylogeny
Research methodology
Species diversity
Species richness
Theory
trends
wildlife management
Destruction
Disease
niche conservatism
Conservation
Ecology
Phylogeny
Dynamical climatology
Climate change
Conservation biology
Invasive species
Food web
Ecological niche
habitat destruction
food webs
Habitat
disease ecology
Community
Species richness
community assembly
ISSN:1461-023X, 1461-0248, 1461-0248
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The diversity of life is ultimately generated by evolution, and much attention has focused on the rapid evolution of ecological traits. Yet, the tendency for many ecological traits to instead remain similar over time [niche conservatism (NC)] has many consequences for the fundamental patterns and processes studied in ecology and conservation biology. Here, we describe the mounting evidence for the importance of NC to major topics in ecology (e.g. species richness, ecosystem function) and conservation (e.g. climate change, invasive species). We also review other areas where it may be important but has generally been overlooked, in both ecology (e.g. food webs, disease ecology, mutualistic interactions) and conservation (e.g. habitat modification). We summarize methods for testing for NC, and suggest that a commonly used and advocated method (involving a test for phylogenetic signal) is potentially problematic, and describe alternative approaches. We suggest that considering NC: (1) focuses attention on the within-species processes that cause traits to be conserved over time, (2) emphasizes connections between questions and research areas that are not obviously related (e.g. invasives, global warming, tropical richness), and (3) suggests new areas for research (e.g. why are some clades largely nocturnal? why do related species share diseases?).
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01515.x
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ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ObjectType-Literature Review-2
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ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01515.x