coevolutionary genetics

Carmona D, Fitzpatrick CR & Johnson MTJ 2015 Fifty years of co-evolution and beyond: integrating co-evolution from molecules to species. Mol Ecol 24:5315-5329.

• a strong critique of the GMC is that these predicted patterns can be generated even when the strength of co-evolution is consistent in space or due to non-co-evolutionary dynamics

• the GMC relies on the interpretation of patterns predicted by theory
• these ecological patterns can be caused by a variety of processes and factors unrelated to the GMC

• many studies test whether species interactions result in reciprocal fitness effects
• this is evidence for neither selection nor evolution

• when interacting species differ in generation time, fitness consequences of the interaction, or mutation rate, co-evolution is probably to be asymmetric

• Ehrlich & Raven's (1964) claim for the ubiquity of co-evolution in nature, and its importance for the diversification of life remains poorly supported