Adaptive radiation The rapid diversification of a lineage The factors that drive adaptive radiation key innovations/mutations/novelty ecological opportunity
Examples of adaptive radiation Group Key innovation(s)
The Cambrian explosion The fossil record Ediacaran fauna Burgess shale 540-500 Mya The molecular evidence Hemoglobin ‘clock’ Ecological underpinnings Increased atmospheric oxygen Predator-prey coevolution Global warming and rising sea levels following the most extensive glaciations in history
What does the molecular clock say about the timing of the Cambrian explosion? Bruce Runnegar (1982): 900Mya Wray et al. (1996): 1000-1200Mya How can these molecular data be reconciled with the fossil data? What observations or experiments would shed light on the cause of the discrepancy?
The (pre?) Cambrian explosion 1200Mya from Rasmussen et al. (2002) Science
What are these? bandicoot, sugar glider, koala, kangaroo, numbat
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Phylogeny
Adaptation
Tarweed huggers Larry = Gerry Carr (U Hawaii) Moe = Robert Robichaux (U AZ) Curly = Bruce Baldwin (UC Berkeley) http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/silversword.htm
Adaptive radiation in real time Paul Rainey and Mike Travisano (1998) Nature 394: 69-72. Adaptive radiation in bacteria (Pseudomonas) grown in liquid culture (microcosm) Why use bacteria for evolutionary experiments?
Adaptive radiation in real time Two environments: Homogeneous (shaken, not stirred) Heterogeneous (unshaken) Replicate experiments founded with a clonal isolate of the ‘smooth’ morph Plated onto solid agar media at daily intervals to measure frequency of morphotypes
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas