Niche conservatism as an emerging principle in ecology and conservation biology

Abstract

The diversity of life is ultimately generated by evolution, and much attention has focused on the rapid evolution of ecological traits. Yet, the tendency for many ecological traits to instead remain similar over time [niche conservatism (NC)] has many consequences for the fundamental patterns and processes studied in ecology and conservation biology. Here, we describe the mounting evidence for the importance of NC to major topics in ecology (e.g. species richness, ecosystem function) and conservation (e.g. climate change, invasive species). We also review other areas where it may be important but has generally been overlooked, in both ecology (e.g. food webs, disease ecology, mutualistic interactions) and conservation (e.g. habitat modification). We summarize methods for testing for NC, and suggest that a commonly used and advocated method (involving a test for phylogenetic signal) is potentially problematic, and describe alternative approaches. We suggest that considering NC: (1) focuses attention on the withinspecies processes that cause traits to be conserved over time, (2) emphasizes connections between questions and research areas that are not obviously related (e.g. invasives, global warming, tropical richness), and (3) suggests new areas for research (e.g. why are some clades largely nocturnal? why do related species share diseases?).

High diversity in Keratella cochlearis (Rotifera, Monogononta): morphological and genetic evidence

“…Closely related species might have similar niches according to the phylogenetic niche conservatism theory (e.g. Wiens & Graham, 2005;Wiens et al, 2010), and this may lead to competitive exclusion (Violle et al, 2011). Thus, ESUs with their close phylogenetic relationship might be especially prone to competitive exclusion; however, co-occurrence of rotifer cryptic species has been reported (Obertegger et al, 2014).…”

Evaluating community–environment relationships along fine to broad taxonomic resolutions reveals evolutionary forces underlying community assembly

“…However, little attention has been devoted toward a mechanistic understanding of why broadly and finely resolved data can be similarly efficacious for the assessment of community-environment relationships (but see Bevilacqua et al, 2013). From the evolutionary perspective, the high efficacy of broadly resolved data may be explained by the conservation of habitat preferences among phylogenetically related taxa (Webb et al, 2002;Wiens and Graham, 2005;Wiens et al, 2010). In contrast, habitat differentiation between closely related taxa (Debussche and Thompson, 2003) and/or convergent evolution between distinctly related taxa (Cavender-Bares et al, 2004) is likely to be vital in those cases, which fail to detect ecologically meaningful patterns using broadly resolved data.…”

Phylogenetic signal and major ecological shifts in the ecomorphological structure of stream fish in two river basins in Brazil

“…A strong phylogenetic signal is necessary, but not sufficient, evidence for the existence of niche or evolutionary conservatism (Losos, 2008; but see Revell et al, 2008). Therefore, it is likely that a portion of the ecomorphological structure observed in our data would be an example of 'phylogenetic niche conservatism', given by the trend of species to retain ancestral ecological characteristics or aspects of their fundamental niche over time (Wiens et al, 2010). For some Neotropical fish clades there is evidence for a pattern of niche conservatism.…”

“…Phylogenetic signal is often interpreted as providing information about the ecological and evolutionary process, evolutionary rate (Losos, 2008; but see Revell et al, 2008) or pattern (Wiens et al, 2010) that regulates community assembly. A strong phylogenetic signal is necessary, but not sufficient, evidence for the existence of niche or evolutionary conservatism (Losos, 2008; but see Revell et al, 2008).…”