Editing Evolutionary ecology (section)

==Evolutionary models==
{{Evolutionary biology}}
A large part of evolutionary ecology is about utilising models and finding empirical data as proof.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morozov|first=Andrew|date=2013-12-06|title=Modelling biological evolution: recent progress, current challenges and future direction|journal=Interface Focus|volume=3|issue=6|page=20130054|doi=10.1098/rsfs.2013.0054|issn=2042-8898|pmc=3915852}}</ref> Examples include the Lack clutch size model devised by [[David Lack]] and his study of [[Darwin's finches]] on the Galapagos Islands. Lack's study of Darwin's finches was important in analyzing the role of different ecological factors in [[speciation]]. Lack suggested that differences in species were adaptive and produced by [[natural selection]], based on the assertion by G.F. Gause that two species cannot occupy the same niche.<ref>{{ cite encyclopedia| entry=Lack, David Lambert| title= Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography|volume=17|publisher= Charles Scribner's Sons|date= 2008|pages= 521–523|via= Gale Virtual Reference Library | access-date= 10 November 2017 | entry-url= https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2830905204/GVRL | entry-url-access=subscription | author= Sharon Kingsland}}</ref>

[[Richard Levins]] introduced his model of the specialization of species in 1968, which investigated how habitat specialization evolved within heterogeneous environments using the fitness sets an organism or species possesses. This model developed the concept of spatial scales in specific environments, defining fine-grained spatial scales and coarse-grained spatial scales.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Brown|first1= Joel S.|first2=Noel B. |last2=Pavlovic|title=Evolution in heterogeneous environments: Effects of migration on habitat specialization| journal= Evolutionary Ecology|volume= 6|number= 5|date= 1992|pages= 360–382|doi=10.1007/bf02270698|bibcode= 1992EvEco...6..360B}}.</ref> The implications of this model include a rapid increase in environmental ecologists' understanding of how spatial scales impact species diversity in a certain environment.<ref>{{ cite journal| last1=Hart|first1= Simon P.|first2=Jacob |last2=Usinowicz |first3= Jonathan M. |last3=Levine |title=The spatial scales of species coexistence|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|volume= 1|number= 8|date= 2017|pages= 1066–1073 | doi=10.1038/s41559-017-0230-7|pmid= 29046584|bibcode= 2017NatEE...1.1066H}}</ref>

Another model is Law and Diekmann's 1996 models on [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualism]], which is defined as a relationship between two organisms that benefits both individuals.<ref>Bronstein, Judith. "Mutualisms and Symbioses." Oxford Bibliographies, 20 Nov 2017, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0006.xml.</ref> Law and Diekmann developed a framework called adaptive dynamics, which assumes that changes in plant or animal populations in response to a disturbance or lack thereof occurs at a faster rate than mutations occur. It is aimed to simplify other models addressing the relationships within communities.<ref>{{ cite book | author-last=Akçay|author-first= Erol | date=2015|chapter= Evolutionary models of mutualism|editor= Judith L. Bronstein |title= Mutualism |pages= 57–76|place= New York|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>