The Red Queen Hypothesis
The Red Queen Hypothesis
The Red Queen Hypothesis was formulated by Van Valen in 1973, and its original purpose was to give an understanding of the adaptation dynamics between species (Vermeij and Roopnarine, 2013). The principles of The Red Queen Hypothesis is clearly formulated in McCune (1982), that states ”all taxa are running on a treadmill powered by an environment which deteriorates at a stochastically constant rate. The result is that an ancient taxon is no better adapted than a younger one; it has just been running in place longer”. Basically it means that, in order for species to survive they need to evolve fast enough to have fitness that can compete with predators, parasites etc., who also are continually evolving (Castrodeza, 1979; Futuyma, 2013, p. 172). The Red Queen Hypothesis mainly acts on species level and below (McCune, 1982), and equals a zero-sum game, everytime a species gain fitness, it is counterbalanced by an equal gain of all other interacting species, and no species ever wins (Stenseth, 1979). For species to exist, they must minimally be well-designed, and if better designed they might be more suited for future circumstances (McCune, 1982), maladapted species will be eliminated by natural selection (Castrodeza, 1979).
Organisms evolve due to changes (Van Valen, 1969), when environmental conditions changes, …show more content…
23). About ten million years after the dinosaurs died out, mammals underwent adaptive radiation, where animals as different as bats, whales and larger dogs originated (Stanley, 1987, p. 8). Adaptive radiation is not a continuous process, it happens in steps when the ecological conditions favors it (Vermeij and Roopnarine, 2013), like when new niches are created due to climatic changes or tectonic events (Stanley, 1987 p. 21; Gillespie,
The Red Queen Hypothesis was formulated by Van Valen in 1973, and its original purpose was to give an understanding of the adaptation dynamics between species (Vermeij and Roopnarine, 2013). The principles of The Red Queen Hypothesis is clearly formulated in McCune (1982), that states ”all taxa are running on a treadmill powered by an environment which deteriorates at a stochastically constant rate. The result is that an ancient taxon is no better adapted than a younger one; it has just been running in place longer”. Basically it means that, in order for species to survive they need to evolve fast enough to have fitness that can compete with predators, parasites etc., who also are continually evolving (Castrodeza, 1979; Futuyma, 2013, p. 172). The Red Queen Hypothesis mainly acts on species level and below (McCune, 1982), and equals a zero-sum game, everytime a species gain fitness, it is counterbalanced by an equal gain of all other interacting species, and no species ever wins (Stenseth, 1979). For species to exist, they must minimally be well-designed, and if better designed they might be more suited for future circumstances (McCune, 1982), maladapted species will be eliminated by natural selection (Castrodeza, 1979).
Organisms evolve due to changes (Van Valen, 1969), when environmental conditions changes, …show more content…
23). About ten million years after the dinosaurs died out, mammals underwent adaptive radiation, where animals as different as bats, whales and larger dogs originated (Stanley, 1987, p. 8). Adaptive radiation is not a continuous process, it happens in steps when the ecological conditions favors it (Vermeij and Roopnarine, 2013), like when new niches are created due to climatic changes or tectonic events (Stanley, 1987 p. 21; Gillespie,