Evolution and Adaptation

Abstract

It seems important in any introduction to ecology to stress the relationship between ecological study and evolutionary theory. Ecology is the study of the interaction of organisms with their environment. That interaction, and the adaptiveness of the organisms to their biotic and abiotic surroundings, are, respectively, the driving force for and the result of evolutionary change. The ecological pressures acting upon an organism are the selection pressures which direct evolutionary change and adaptation. For this reason it is essential always to maintain an evolutionary perspective in ecological analysis; it would almost be fair to say it would be dangerous to try and treat ecology in isolation: for ecology is really the study of selection pressures, or the study of adaptation. The effects of evolutionary pressure on organisms may be reflected in their own adaptation. Equally changes within individual organisms may have wider implication for the system of which each organism is part and evolutionary change may be reflected in a shift of emphasis or structure of the entire system as a whole (Chapter 11).