coevolutionary genetics

Althoff DM, Segraves KA & Johnson MTJ 2014 Testing for coevolutionary diversification: linking pattern with process. TREE 29:82-89.

• tests for coevolutionary diversification have focused on elucidating macroevolutionary patterns rather than the processes giving rise to such patterns
• there is weak evidence that coevolution promotes diversification
• this is in part due to a lack of understanding about the mechanisms by which coevolution can cause speciation and the difficulty of integrating results across micro- and macroevolutionary scales

• studies on coevolutionary diversification abound
• tests examining this process remain tenuous
• we lack a framework for linking coevolutionary processes to phylogenetic patterns

• as has been done for coevolution, there is a need to further refine what coevolutionary diversification is and what constitutes support for this concept
• we define coevolutionary diversification as the process by which coevolution between two or more taxa increases net diversification (speciation rate - extinction rate) in a least one of the interacting taxa
• coevolutionary diversification is caused by processes at the microevolutionary level, but results in overall changes in the pattern of speciation among interacting species

• if we allow coevolution to be the source of divergent selection, then coevolutionary diversification is a special case of ecological speciation

• glossary
• coevolution: reciprocal natural selection that causes reciprocal evolutionary changes in the traits of two or more interacting species