Defining the speciation continuum
2021/03/23 by Sean Stankowski, Mark Ravinet · 1 voice · 55 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Genetic diversity and population structure #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/evo.14215
Abstract
A primary roadblock to our understanding of speciation is that it usually occurs over a timeframe that is too long to study from start to finish. The idea of a speciation continuum provides something of a solution to this problem; rather than observing the entire process, we can simply reconstruct it from the multitude of speciation events that surround us. But what do we really mean when we talk about the speciation continuum, and can it really help us understand speciation? We explored these questions using a literature review and online survey of speciation researchers. Although most researchers were familiar with the concept and thought it was useful, our survey revealed extensive disagreement about what the speciation continuum actually tells us. This is due partly to the lack of a clear definition. Here, we provide an explicit definition that is compatible with the Biological Species Concept. That is, the speciation continuum is a continuum of reproductive isolation. After outlining the logic of the definition in light of alternatives, we explain why attempts to reconstruct the speciation process from present-day populations will ultimately fail. We then outline how we think the speciation continuum concept can continue to act as a foundation for understanding the continuum of reproductive isolation that surrounds us.
Cited by
- Trait evolution drives speciation through complex interactions between genome size, adaptation and allometry
- The polyploid continuum and the landscape of polyploid genomic variation
- The Species as a Reproductive Community Emerging From the Past
- Punctuated equilibria from 2008 to 2023: continued validation, expanded analytical approaches, plus some drift on defining stasis
- Non-random sorting of parental chemical compounds during hybrid speciation
- Genomic analyses in <i>Drosophila</i> do not support the classic allopatric model of speciation
- Genome Skimming Illuminates Hidden Species Diversity and Symbiodiniaceae Associations in East Pacific <i>Pocillopora</i> Corals
- <i>Homo sapiens</i>, Neanderthals and speciation complexity in palaeoanthropology
- Phylogenomic timetree-calibrated speciation clocks for Caenorhabditis nematodes reveal slow but disproportionate accumulation of post-zygotic reproductive isolation
- Suture zones, speciation, and evolution
- A constellation of dysfunctional hybrid phenotypes enforces reproductive isolation between <i>Caenorhabditis</i> nematode species
- Divergent lineages in a young species: The case of datilillo ( <i>Yucca valida</i> ), a broadly distributed plant from the Baja California Peninsula
- Replicate avian hybrid zones reveal the progression of genetic and trait introgression through time
- Common misconceptions of speciation
- Digest: Stabilizing selection drives sperm length divergence in promiscuous passerines
- Evolutionary history of soil-feeding Neotropical termites reveals recent divergences linked to geologic-climatic influences
- The Evolution of Reproductive Isolation Beyond a Strong First Barrier in Speciation Between Micro‐Allopatric Host Races of a Phytophagous Ladybird Beetle, <i>Henosepilachna diekei</i>
- Ecological and Mutation‐Order Speciation in <i>Senecio</i>
- Molecular Delimitation of Evolutionary Significant Units Reveals Hidden Geographic Drivers of Extinction Risk Within Island Arthropods
- Comparing rates of molecular and morphological evolution identifies multiple speciation trajectories in a diverse radiation of skinks
- Delimiting Species—Prospects and Challenges for <scp>DNA</scp> Barcoding
- Triploidy in a pair of hybridizing salamanders at the far end of the speciation continuum
- Second-chance speciation in the Clouded Apollo butterfly
- Homoploid Hybrid Speciation in a Marine Pelagic Fish
- The Metapopulation Bridge to Macroevolutionary Speciation Rates: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Test
- Estimation of genome-wide coupling in rattlesnake hybrids provides insight into the process of speciation and its progress
- A species interaction kick-starts ecological speciation in allopatry
- Coalescent-delimitation framework disentangles species boundaries within the Neotropical mouse-opossums subgenus <i>Marmosops</i>
- Charting a future for entomological taxonomy in New Zealand
- Exon Capture Museomics Deciphers the Nine-Banded Armadillo Species Complex and Identifies a New Species Endemic to the Guiana Shield
- Genetic and morphological data demonstrate hybridization and backcrossing in a pair of salamanders at the far end of the speciation continuum. [europepmc]
- The Build-Up of Population Genetic Divergence along the Speciation Continuum during a Recent Adaptive Radiation of Rhagoletis Flies. [europepmc]
- Speciation with gene flow between two Neotropical sympatric species ( Pitcairnia spp.: Bromeliaceae). [europepmc]
- The Warps and Wefts of a Polyploidy Complex: Integrative Species Delimitation of the Diploid Leucanthemum (Compositae, Anthemideae) Representatives. [europepmc]
- What is reproductive isolation? [europepmc]
- Cell types as species: Exploring a metaphor. [europepmc]
- Ten years of demographic modelling of divergence and speciation in the sea. [europepmc]
- Picks in the Fabric of a Polyploidy Complex: Integrative Species Delimitation in the Tetraploid Leucanthemum Mill. (Compositae, Anthemideae) Representatives. [europepmc]
- Recurrent selection and reduction in recombination shape the genomic landscape of divergence across multiple population pairs of Green-backed Tit. [europepmc]
- Genomic evidence for three distinct species in the Erebia manto complex in Central Europe (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). [europepmc]
- Speciation and repeated origins of hypertrophied lips in parallel adaptive radiations of cyprinid fish from East Africa. [europepmc]
- The puzzle of plant hybridisation: a high propensity to hybridise but few hybrid zones reported. [europepmc]
- Genetic and karyotype divergence between parents affect clonality and sterility in hybrids. [europepmc]
- RAD-sequencing improves the genetic characterization of a threatened tree peony ( Paeonia ludlowii ) endemic to China: Implications for conservation. [europepmc]
- Asynchronous life cycles contribute to reproductive isolation between two Alpine butterflies. [europepmc]
- The global speciation continuum of the cyanobacterium Microcoleus. [europepmc]
- Population genomics and morphological data bridge the centuries of cyanobacterial taxonomy along the continuum of Microcoleus species. [europepmc]
- Hybridization, polyploidization, and morphological convergence make dozens of taxa into one chaotic genetic pool: a phylogenomic case of the Ficus erecta species complex (Moraceae). [europepmc]
- Heterochronic shift in gene expression leads to ontogenetic morphological divergence between two closely related polyploid species. [europepmc]
- Common misconceptions of speciation. [europepmc]
- Delimiting Species-Prospects and Challenges for DNA Barcoding. [europepmc]
- Integrative taxonomy in helminth analysis: protocols and limitations in the twenty-first century. [europepmc]
- Genomic, Phenotypic and Environmental Correlates of Speciation in the Midwife Toads (Alytes). [europepmc]
- Genomic regions of current low hybridisation mark long-term barriers to gene flow in scarce swallowtail butterflies. [europepmc]
- Phylogenomic timetree-calibrated speciation clocks for Caenorhabditis nematodes reveal slow but disproportionate accumulation of post-zygotic reproductive isolation. [europepmc]
Discussions
Related