Phenotypic divergence and ecological speciation in mutualisms: effects of spatial structure and interaction intimacy

• Grant number: 14/21106-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2015
• End date: January 16, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Roberto Guimarães Junior
• Grantee: Rafael Luís Galdini Raimundo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Understanding the adaptive origins of biodiversity under different spatial contexts is a fundamental ecological question. We will use individual based models to investigate how ecological processes affect diversification by shaping the spatial structure of natural selection. We consider metapopulations of mutualist species whose interaction is mediated by complementary traits. The same traits mediate mortality imposed by the abiotic environment, intraspecific competition, and mate choices. We will use the subgraph approach and numerical simulations to investigate effects of network topology and of selective regimes on diversification. For the sake of generality, we will also contrast the model dynamics between high intimacy mutualisms (few interacting individuals strongly integrated) and low intimate mutualisms (multiple interacting individuals weakly integrated). Speciation is expected to occur in peripheral sites, occurring (i) allopatrically, under stabilizing selection defined by contrasting environmental optima among sites and (ii) simpatrically, under disruptive selection imposed by intraspecific competition. Subgraphs characterized by high centralization, such as star spatial networks, are predicted to have low spatial species turnover even under high speciation rates. Higher degrees of heterogeneity in species composition are expected in metapopulations characterized by lower centralization, such as linear networks, depending on the balance between gene flow and the dispersion of new species. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

HEMBRY, DAVID H.; RAIMUNDO, RAFAEL L. G.; NEWMAN, ERICA A.; ATKINSON, LESJE; GUO, CHANG; GUIMARAES, JR., PAULO R.; GILLESPIE, ROSEMARY G.. Does biological intimacy shape ecological network structure? A test using a brood pollination mutualism on continental and oceanic islands. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 87, n. 4, SI, p. 1160-1171, JUL 2018. (09/54422-8, 14/21106-4, 11/13054-6)

CANTOR, MAURICIO; PIRES, MATHIAS M.; MARQUITTI, FLAVIA M. D.; RAIMUNDO, RAFAEL L. G.; SEBASTIAN-GONZALEZ, ESTHER; COLTRI, PATRICIA P.; PEREZ, S. IVAN; BARNECHE, DIEGO R.; BRANDT, DEBORA Y. C.; NUNES, KELLY; et al. Nestedness across biological scales. PLoS One, v. 12, n. 2, FEB 6 2017. (15/11985-3, 14/21106-4, 11/11346-0, 11/13054-6, 13/02738-7, 13/22016-6, 09/54422-8, 12/09950-9)

HEMBRY, DAVID H.; RAIMUNDO, RAFAEL L. G.; NEWMAN, ERICA A.; ATKINSON, LESJE; GUO, CHANG; GUIMARAES, PAULO R., JR.; GILLESPIE, ROSEMARY G.. Does biological intimacy shape ecological network structure? A test using a brood pollination mutualism on continental and oceanic islands. Journal of Animal Ecology, v. 87, n. 4, p. 12-pg., 2018-07-01. (14/21106-4, 09/54422-8, 11/13054-6)

RAIMUNDO, RAFAEL L. G.; GUIMARAES, JR., PAULO R.; EVANS, DARREN M.. Adaptive Networks for Restoration Ecology. TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, v. 33, n. 9, p. 664-675, SEP 2018. (14/21106-4, 17/08406-7)