Monopolization at the population level

Evolution has long been deemed too slow to affect ecological processes, like the colonization of a new habitat patch. However, increasing evidence points out that evolution does occur at time-scales relevant for the colonization of a new habitat patch. A verbal theory put forward, termed the monopolization theory, describes how this can result in an evolution-mediated priority effects, in which rapid local adaptation of the first colonists results in a fitness advantage relative to later arriving immigrants, thereby reducing the effective gene flow from those later arriving immigrants into the local population. I study this process using several minimal models of population dynamics that include intraspecific competition and evolution. Some important aspects of my research include: 1) evolutionary and population dynamics during the colonization of a new habitat, 2) the applicability of monopolization to asexual reproducing populations, 3) differences across the genome in long-term population genetic structure, and 4) monopolization as a regime (including shifts in this regime and its effect on population dynamics).