The Ecology of Adaptive Radiation

Much of life's diversity was generated by adaptive radiation - concentrated bursts of evolution during which new species rapidly formed, diverging from a common ancestor in ecology and phenotype. There are many living examples of this spectacular phenomenon - the most famous include the East African cichlid fishes, the Hawaiian silverswords, and of course, Darwin's Galápagos finches. This book evaluates the causes of adaptive radiation, focusing on the 'ecological' theory, a body of ideas that began with Darwin. The author re- evaluates the ecological theory, along with its most significant extensions and challenges, in the light of all the recent evidence. This important book is the first full exploration of the causes of adaptive radiation to be written for decades, by one of the world's leading young evolutionary biologists.