Travel, sex, and food: What's speciation got to do with it?

Valeria Souza; Luis E. Eguiarte; Michael Travisano; James J. Elser; Christine Rooks; Janet L. Siefert

doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0768

Travel, sex, and food: What's speciation got to do with it?

Valeria Souza, Luis E. Eguiarte, Michael Travisano, James J. Elser, Christine Rooks, Janet L. Siefert

Flathead Lake Biological Station

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We discuss the potential interactions among travel (dispersal and gene flow), bacterial "sex" (mainly as horizontal gene transfer), and food (metabolic plasticity and responses to nutrient availability) in shaping microbial communities. With regard to our work at a unique desert oasis, the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in Coahuila, Mexico, we propose that diversification and low phosphorus availability, in combination with mechanisms for nutrient recycling and community cohesion, result in enhanced speciation through reproductive as well as geographic isolation. We also discuss these mechanisms in the broader sense of ecology and evolution. Of special relevance to astrobiology and central to evolutionary biology, we ask why there are so many species on Earth and provide a working hypothesis and a conceptual framework within which to consider the question.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	634-640
Number of pages	7
Journal	Astrobiology
Volume	12
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2011.0768
State	Published - Jul 1 2012

Keywords

Evolution
Horizontal gene transfer
Metabolism
Microbial ecology
Microbial mats

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10.1089/ast.2011.0768

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abstract = "We discuss the potential interactions among travel (dispersal and gene flow), bacterial {"}sex{"} (mainly as horizontal gene transfer), and food (metabolic plasticity and responses to nutrient availability) in shaping microbial communities. With regard to our work at a unique desert oasis, the Cuatro Ci{\'e}negas Basin in Coahuila, Mexico, we propose that diversification and low phosphorus availability, in combination with mechanisms for nutrient recycling and community cohesion, result in enhanced speciation through reproductive as well as geographic isolation. We also discuss these mechanisms in the broader sense of ecology and evolution. Of special relevance to astrobiology and central to evolutionary biology, we ask why there are so many species on Earth and provide a working hypothesis and a conceptual framework within which to consider the question.",

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AU - Rooks, Christine

AU - Siefert, Janet L.

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Travel, sex, and food: What's speciation got to do with it?

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Keywords

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