title: Evolutionary ecology of specialization: insights from phylogenetic analysis.
abstract: In this Special feature, we assemble studies that illustrate phylogenetic approaches to studying salient questions regarding the effect of specialization on lineage diversification. The studies use an array of techniques involving a wide-ranging collection of biological systems (plants, butterflies, fish and amphibians are all represented). Their results reveal that macroevolutionary examination of specialization provides insight into the patterns of trade-offs in specialized systems; in particular, the genetic mechanisms of trade-offs appear to extend to very different aspects of life history in different groups. In turn, because a species may be a specialist from one perspective and a generalist in others, these trade-offs influence whether we perceive specialization to have effects on the evolutionary success of a lineage when we examine specialization only along a single axis. Finally, how geographical range influences speciation and extinction of specialist lineages remains a question offering much potential for further insight.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2L 0Z3 jvamosi@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: Jana C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Vamosi
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DY, UK Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA Department of Biology, NTNU, Trondheim 7491, Norway.
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Armbruster
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Mycology, Department of Biology, University of Munich (LMU), Munich 80638, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Renner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000235:genetics
keywords: comparative phylogenetics; macroevolution; specialization