Red Queen and the Court Jester: Species Diversity and the Role of Biotic and Abiotic Factors Through Time

Evolution may be dominated by biotic factors, as in the Red Queen model, or abiotic factors, as in the Court Jester model, or a mixture of both. The two models appear to operate predominantly over different geographic and temporal scales: Competition, predation, and other biotic factors shape ecosys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2009-02, Vol.323 (5915), p.728-732
Main Author: Benton, Michael J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Biological Evolution
Biological taxonomies
Climate
Court jesters
Dinosaurs
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Fossils
Genetic Speciation
Geography
Geological Phenomena
Logistic Models
Mass extinction events
Models, Biological
Paleoecology
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Reviews
Species
Species diversity
Species extinction
Time
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Summary:Evolution may be dominated by biotic factors, as in the Red Queen model, or abiotic factors, as in the Court Jester model, or a mixture of both. The two models appear to operate predominantly over different geographic and temporal scales: Competition, predation, and other biotic factors shape ecosystems locally and over short time spans, but extrinsic factors such as climate and oceanographic and tectonic events shape larger-scale patterns regionally and globally, and through thousands and millions of years. Paleobiological studies suggest that species diversity is driven largely by abiotic factors such as climate, landscape, or food supply, and comparative phylogenetic approaches offer new insights into clade dynamics.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1157719