Ecological Speciation: When and How Variation Among Environments Can Drive Population Divergence

Abstract

Speciation is a complex process, in part because it can be caused by a multitude of different mechanisms. One aspect of speciation that has received much attention lately is the importance that variation among environments may play in driving speciation, i.e., ecological speciation. However, attention has been largely limited to the role of divergent natural selection as a consequence of such variation. Nonetheless, variation among environment may also result in flexible individual responses: phenotypic plasticity, adjustment of the environment, and selection of the environment (incl. habitat choice). Here I discuss and give examples of how these other consequences of variation among environments can generate ecology-driven speciation, including when they are interacting with each other or with natural selection. I propose that such a bottom-up approach to speciation may help us uncover neglected aspects of the speciation process, including when speciation may not occur.