Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of interconnectedness and modularity

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jan 23;115(4):750-755. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1716078115. Epub 2018 Jan 8.

Abstract

In this contribution, we develop a theoretical framework for linking microprocesses (i.e., population dynamics and evolution through natural selection) with macrophenomena (such as interconnectedness and modularity within an ecological system). This is achieved by developing a measure of interconnectedness for population distributions defined on a trait space (generalizing the notion of modularity on graphs), in combination with an evolution equation for the population distribution. With this contribution, we provide a platform for understanding under what environmental, ecological, and evolutionary conditions ecosystems evolve toward being more or less modular. A major contribution of this work is that we are able to decompose the overall driver of changes at the macro level (such as interconnectedness) into three components: (i) ecologically driven change, (ii) evolutionarily driven change, and (iii) environmentally driven change.

Keywords: macroecological patterns; macroevolutionary patterns; mathematical modeling; microevolution; population biology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biodiversity
  • Biological Evolution*
  • Ecology / methods*
  • Ecosystem
  • Environment
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Phenotype
  • Population Dynamics / statistics & numerical data*
  • Selection, Genetic / physiology