Daniel Bolnick
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Editor In Chief, The American Naturalist
University of Connecticut Continue Reading Daniel Bolnick
MIDAS Network Member
Paper Information
Title
Understanding Maladaptation by Uniting Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives.
Abstract
Evolutionary biologists have long trained their sights on adaptation, focusing on the power of natural selection to produce relative fitness advantages while often ignoring changes in absolute fitness. Ecologists generally have taken a different tack, focusing on changes in abundance and ranges that reflect absolute fitness while often ignoring relative fitness. Uniting these perspectives, we articulate various causes of relative and absolute maladaptation and review numerous examples of their occurrence. This review indicates that maladaptation is reasonably common from both perspectives, yet often in contrasting ways. That is, maladaptation can appear strong from a relative fitness perspective, yet populations can be growing in abundance. Conversely, resident individuals can appear locally adapted (relative to nonresident individuals) yet be declining in abundance. Understanding and interpreting these disconnects between relative and absolute maladaptation, as well as the cases of agreement, is increasingly critical in the face of accelerating human-mediated environmental change. We therefore present a framework for studying maladaptation, focusing in particular on the relationship between absolute and relative fitness, thereby drawing together evolutionary and ecological perspectives. The unification of these ecological and evolutionary perspectives has the potential to bring together previously disjunct research areas while addressing key conceptual issues and specific practical problems.
Journal
The American naturalist
Citation
Brady SP, Bolnick DI, Barrett RDH, Chapman L, Crispo E, Derry AM, Eckert CG, Fraser DJ, Fussmann GF, Gonzalez A, Guichard F, Lamy T, Lane J, McAdam AG, Newman AEM, Paccard A, Robertson B, Rolshausen G, Schulte PM, Simons AM, Vellend M, Hendry A. (2019). Understanding Maladaptation by Uniting Ecological and Evolutionary Perspectives. The American naturalist, 194(4)
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