QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Niche conservatism, evolution, and applied ecology: challenges and opportunities.
Bob Holt, Univ. of Florida

Q: Are there any examples of eukaryotic populations in nature that show patterns similar to those you show of abrupt increases in the frequency of new alleles? Have we seen this happen?

A: There have been several reviews in the last few years, showing examples of strong phenotypic responses to selection; whether or not this leads to large changes at a single locus depends upon the number of loci that are involved in determining the trait. In the evolution of resistance to insecticides, there are examples where resistance emerged from a single change at a single locus, which was strongly selected (the best work comes from Montpellier, France, I'm drawing a blank on the researcher's name).

Q: Can you incorporate more than one trait or adaptation into the model so that one may be beneficial while another is maladapted, and look at interactive effects?

A: Yes, one can look at multiple traits, and also a range of life history variables. With my associates I have done some of that, but it is largely unpublished as yet, except as bits and pieces. Sometimes the ordering of events (e.g., dispersal, reproduction, selection) in the life history makes a huge difference to the outcome.

Q: How could these models be used to make predictions for invasive species, such as to which might be most likely to spread?

A: There is a recent book from Sinauer Press (2005), edited by Dov Sax and others, about invasion. I have a chapter in that, specifically trying to relate these ideas to invasive species.