Durham University, Department of Biosciences, Durham, UK.
USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Animal Parasitic Diseases Lab, Beltsville, MD 20705 USA.
Infect Genet Evol. 2020 Oct;84:104441. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104441. Epub 2020 Jul 1.
Species interactions, such as pollination, parasitism and predation, form the basis of functioning ecosystems. The origins and resilience of such interactions therefore merit attention. However, fossils only occasionally document ancient interactions, and phylogenetic methods are blind to recent interactions. Is there some other way to track shared species experiences? "Comparative demography" examines when pairs of species jointly thrived or declined. By forging links between ecology, epidemiology, and evolutionary biology, this method sheds light on biological adaptation, species resilience, and ecosystem health. Here, we describe how this method works, discuss examples, and suggest future directions in hopes of inspiring interest, imitators, and critics.
物种相互作用，如授粉、寄生和捕食，构成了功能生态系统的基础。因此，这些相互作用的起源和恢复力值得关注。然而，化石只能偶尔记录古代的相互作用，而系统发育方法对最近的相互作用是盲目的。是否有其他方法来跟踪共享的物种经验？“比较人口统计学”研究了物种对何时共同繁荣或衰退。通过在生态学、流行病学和进化生物学之间建立联系，这种方法揭示了生物适应性、物种恢复力和生态系统健康。在这里，我们描述了这种方法的工作原理，讨论了一些例子，并提出了未来的方向，希望能激发兴趣、模仿者和批评者。
