"Fitness landscapes for the study of eco-evolutionary dynamics"Bank, ClaudiaFitness landscapes are maps that describe the relationship between genotypes, phenotypes, and/or fitness. Initially proposed as a theoretical concept almost a century ago, the theory of fitness landscape has been applied at multiple biological scales in the context of research in adaptation, speciation, molecular evolution, systems biology, etc. Moreover, in the past two decades, increasingly large experimental fitness landscapes have been screened, primarily at the within- or between-gene level. In this talk, I will highlight fitness landscape research across biological levels. Specifically, I will focus on the incorporation of ecological interactions in fitness landscape models, resulting in so-called “deformable” fitness landscapes, and discuss what these models can teach us about evolution. |
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