NICHE DYNAMICS IN SPACE AND TIME: THE NEXUS OF ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION (Invited Presentation)

Understanding the interaction of ecological processes and evolutionary dynamics is critical to improving predictions of species response to climate change and other anthropogenic pressures. Niche dynamics rely on both intrinsic (e.g., genetic variation) and extrinsic factors (e.g. environment, community assembly) and comprise the conceptual nexus of ecology and evolution; niche stability, niche evolution and niche heterogeneity can shape macroevolutionary patterns and influence the ecology of a species. The interaction of ecology and evolution is most evident when niche dynamics are studied over space and through varying time scales. I explore ways in which we can study species niches on short (hundreds to thousands of years) and long (millions of years) time scales to understand how species will respond to changes in climate, drawing from examples in the fossil and extant record.

Niche modeling was used to construct the distribution of equids across the mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum to understand speciation during a time of environmental change, while dietary niches constructed using stable isotopes were studied to understand how niche stability can lead to faunal turnover during this time. In a second example, the spatially heterogeneous niche of the living ponderosa pine was analyzed on historic time scales to understand the future evolutionary trajectory of the species and its intraspecific populations given climate change. And lastly, niche modeling was used to test whether community assembly influences species distributions and what this means for predictive modeling of plant species from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present. These examples illustrate how differing spatial and temporal scales as well as niche definition influence conclusions about ecological and evolutionary processes.