On the origin of species by sympatric speciation (original) (raw)

Nature volume 400, pages 354–357 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding speciation is a fundamental biological problem. It is believed that many species originated through allopatric divergence, where new species arise from geographically isolated populations of the same ancestral species1,2,3. In contrast, the possibility of sympatric speciation (in which new species arise without geographical isolation) has often been dismissed, partly because of theoretical difficulties2,3. Most previous models analysing sympatric speciation concentrated on particular aspects of the problem while neglecting others4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Here we present a model that integrates a novel combination of different features and show that sympatric speciation is a likely outcome of competition for resources. We use multilocus genetics to describe sexual reproduction in an individual-based model, and we consider the evolution of assortative mating (where individuals mate preferentially with like individuals) depending either on an ecological character affecting resource use or on a selectively neutral marker trait. In both cases, evolution of assortative mating often leads to reproductive isolation between ecologically diverging subpopulations. When assortative mating depends on a marker trait, and is therefore not directly linked to resource competition, speciation occurs when genetic drift breaks the linkage equilibrium between the marker and the ecological trait. Our theory conforms well with mounting empirical evidence for the sympatric origin of many species10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

$199.00 per year

only $3.90 per issue

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Additional access options:

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mayr, E. Animal Species and Evolution (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1963).
    Book Google Scholar
  2. Coyne, J. A. Genetics and speciation. Nature 355, 511 –515 (1992).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  3. Rice, W. R. & Hostert, E. E. Laboratory experiments on speciation — what have we learned in 40 years. Evolution 47, 1637–1653 (1993).
    Article Google Scholar
  4. Maynard Smith, J. Sympatric speciation. Am. Nat. 100, 637– 650 (1966).
    Article Google Scholar
  5. Rosenzweig, M. L. Competitive speciation. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. (Lond.) 10, 275–289 (1978).
    Article Google Scholar
  6. Felsenstein, J. Skepticism towards Santa Rosalia, or why are there so few kinds of animals? Evolution 35, 124–138 (1981).
    Article Google Scholar
  7. Seger, J. in Evolution. Essays in Honour of John Maynard Smith (eds Greenwood, P. J., Harvey, P. H. & Slatkin, M.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1985).
    Google Scholar
  8. Kondrashov, A. S. Multilocus model of sympatric speciation III. computer simulations. Theor. Pop. Biol. 29, 1–15 (1986).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  9. Johnson, P. A., Hoppenstaedt, F. C., Smith, J. J. & Bush, G. L. Conditions for sympatric speciation: a diploid model incorporating habitat fidelity and non-habit assortative mating. Evol. Ecol. 10, 187–205 (1996).
    Article Google Scholar
  10. Bush, G. L. Sympatric speciation in animals — new wine in old bottles. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9, 285–288 (1994).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  11. Meyer, A., Kocher, T. D., Basasibwaki, P. & Wilson, A. C. Monophyletic origin of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes suggested by mitochondrial DNA sequences. Nature 347, 550– 553 (1990).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  12. Schliewen, U. K., Tautz, D. & Pääbo, S. Sympatric speciation suggested by monophyly of crater lake cichlids. Nature 368, 629– 623 (1994).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  13. Schluter, D. Experimental evidence that competition promotes divergence in adaptive radiation. Science 266, 798–801 (1994).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  14. Johannesson, K., Rolan-Alvarez, E. & Ekendahl, A. Incipient reproductive isolation between two sympatric morphs of the intertidal snail Littorina saxatilis. Evolution 49, 1180–1190 ( 1995).
    Article Google Scholar
  15. Knox, E. B. & Palmer, J. D. Chloroplast DNA variation and the recent radiation of giant senecios (Asteraceae) on the tall mountains of Eastern Africa. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 10349–10353 (1995).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  16. Taylor, E. B. & McPhail, J. D. Evolutionary history of an adaptive radiation in species pairs of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus): insights from mitochondrial DNA. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 66, 271–291 (1999).
    Article Google Scholar
  17. Losos, J. B., Jackman, T. R., Larson, A., de Queiroz, K. & Rodríguez-Schettino, L. Contingency and determinism in replicated adaptive radiations of island lizards. Science 279, 2115–2118 ( 1998).
    Article ADS CAS Google Scholar
  18. Orr, M. R. & Smith, T. B. Ecology and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 13, 502–506 (1998).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  19. Metz, J. A. J., Geritz, S. A. H., Meszéna, G., Jacobs, F. J. A. & van Heerwaarden, J. S. in Stochastic and Spatial Structures of Dynamical Systems (eds van Strien, S. J. & Verduyn Lunel, S. M. ) 183–231 (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1996).
    MATH Google Scholar
  20. Dieckmann, U. & Law, R. The dynamical theory of coevolution: a derivation from stochastic ecological processes. J. Math. Biol. 34, 579–612 ( 1996).
    Article MathSciNet CAS Google Scholar
  21. Dieckmann, U. Can adaptive dynamics invade? Trends Ecol. Evol. 12 , 128–131 (1997).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  22. Geritz, S. A. H., Kisdi, E., Meszéna, G. & Metz, J. A. J. Evolutionarily singular strategies and the adaptive growth and branching of the evolutionary tree. Evol. Ecol. 12, 35 –57 (1998).
    Article Google Scholar
  23. Doebeli, M. & Ruxton, G. D. Evolution of dispersal rates in metapopulation models: branching and cyclic dynamics in phenotype space. Evolution 51, 1730–1741 (1997).
    Article Google Scholar
  24. Doebeli, M. Aquantitative genetic competition model for sympatric speciation. J. Evol. Biol. 9, 893–909 (1996).
    Article Google Scholar
  25. Turner, G. F. & Burrows, M. T. Amodel of sympatric speciation by sexual selection. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 260, 287–292 (1995).
    Article ADS Google Scholar
  26. Kondrashov, A. S. & Shpak, M. On the origin of species by means of assortative mating. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 2273–2278 (1998).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  27. Schluter, D. & McPhail, J. D. Character displacement and replicate adaptive radiation. Trends Ecol. Evol. 8, 197–200 (1993).
    Article CAS Google Scholar
  28. Schluter, D. & Nagel, L. M. Parallel speciation by natural selection. Am. Nat. 146, 292– 301 (1995).
    Article Google Scholar
  29. Nagel, L. M. & Schluter, D. Body size, natural selection, and speciation in sticklebacks. Evolution 52, 209–218 (1998).
    Article Google Scholar
  30. Seehausen, O., van Alphen, J. J. M. & Witte, F. Cichlid fish diversity threatened by eutrophication that curbs sexual selection. Science 277, 1808–1811 (1997).
    Article CAS Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank H. Metz, R. Law, M. Heino, S. Stearns, J. Maynard Smith and N. Knowlton for helpful comments, and U. Schliewen, K. Rasmussen and D. Tautz for discussions. The order of authors is alphabetical.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adaptive Dynamics Network, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, A-2361, Austria
    Ulf Dieckmann
  2. Zoology Institute, University of Basel, Rheinsprung 9, Basel, CH-4051, Switzerland
    Michael Doebeli

Authors

  1. Ulf Dieckmann
    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
  2. Michael Doebeli
    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence toUlf Dieckmann.

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dieckmann, U., Doebeli, M. On the origin of species by sympatric speciation.Nature 400, 354–357 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/22521

Download citation

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.