Eco-evolutionary dynamics . Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2017. xii + 397 pp. Price AUD $79.95 (hardcover, also available as an E-book). ISBN: 9780691145433.
The term ‘eco-evolutionary dynamics’ deals with the idea that ecological and evolutionary processes can impact one another over very short time scales. While a focus on this dynamic relationship between ecology and evolution has, arguably, a long history, the field of eco-evolutionary dynamics as we know it today only emerged in the last decade or so. This makes Andrew Hendry's new book a timely contribution. Hendry is pioneer in the field having authored many of the seminal reviews as well as contributed a substantial body of empirical work. He is, thus, well placed to provide an overview of where we stand and how we should move forward.
The book is split up into several sections. The first section introduces the concept of eco-evolutionary dynamics and provides a road map for the rest of the book. The second section deals the eco-to-evo component of the process – how ecological change influences evolutionary change. As Hendry points out, this amounts to a ‘review and recasting of the classic field of evolutionary ecology’, transitioning from selection, to adaptation, to divergence and finally speciation. The third section deals with the evo-to-eco component of the process – how short-term evolutionary change can impact population dynamics, community composition and ultimately ecosystem processes. These represent the more under-explored areas of eco-evolutionary dynamics and will provide the uninitiated reader with a number of novel insights into the field. The fourth section deals with the underpinnings of these effects, focussing first on genes and genomes and then on plasticity. The final section wraps things up providing a summary of what we do and do not know about eco-evolutionary dynamics and articulates a number of areas for future research.
There is a lot to like about this book. Hendry strikes a nice balance between explaining detailed eco-evolutionary concepts in a simple manner with an extremely wide range of literature that provides context to those concepts. Hendry focuses on the importance of studying phenotypes in natural settings but also draws substantially from the wide range of work undertaken in controlled laboratory studies. In doing so, he does not pretend to explain everything but instead highlights key areas of the process for which there is currently conflicting evidence and thus areas that are ripe for further empirical scrutiny. The book is also nicely balanced in its appeal. It provides a wonderful introduction to many aspects of evolutionary ecology that will be appealing to any undergraduate or PhD student while also being detailed and novel enough to provide valuable insights and ideas for initiated readers.
There are, however, several areas of the book where I believe Hendry missed a trick. This is perhaps inevitable when trying to cover such a vast topic in one book. One is in the dealing of phenotypic plasticity. It appears, in places, that Hendry felt a need to repeatedly justify the inclusion of plasticity in this framework. As a result, the section on plasticity is largely focussed on explaining what plasticity is rather than detailing the role it might play in mediating eco-evolutionary dynamics more broadly. This is surprising given that plasticity has arguably the greatest potential to drastically and rapidly alter the organism-environment relationship and thus shape eco-evolutionary dynamics. There is also a lack of a focus on the dynamic component of the term. While eco-to-evo and evo-to-eco receive considerable attention, far less is paid to the fact that ultimately eco-evolutionary dynamics are about feedbacks between the two; from ecology to evolution and back again. Hendry acknowledges this of course, but a chapter dedicated to how these processes might come together would have helped tie the book together.
As a result of the above I could not but help wanting more out of this book. This is not a reflection on the book itself but rather the fact that there are a fundamental lack of systems out there that are currently suitably well-understood to characterise these processes in an holistic manner. As a consequence we are left with pieces of the puzzle rather than the completed puzzle itself. Hendry does a great job of highlighting those pieces and suggesting how they may come together but is ultimately limited in how far he can go actually putting the puzzle together. To his credit, he does not try to force his own agenda in this context but instead encourages the reader to take the next steps in completing the puzzle. This is no easy task. It will require designing holistic research programs, targeting natural systems that allow us to understand the dynamic nature of the organism-environment-evolution relationship at multiple levels of biological organisation. Such a goal necessitates a multidisciplinary approach that will foster collaborations between ecologists, evolutionary biologists, mathematicians, molecular biologists, developmental biologists, and many more. An integrated approach with such a broad aim should be hugely attractive to the next generation of scientists and this book will provide an excellent basis from which that generation can tackle some truly exciting new research questions. After all, who doesn't like completing a puzzle?
