XXVI.2 The progress of cladogenesis can be significantly affected by individual anagenetic changes

The progress of cladogenesis can be substantially affected by anagenetic changes occurring in species in the given line.There are two principally different ways in which anagenesis can affect the progress of cladogenesis.The first means consists in a change in the phenotype traits of the organism that opens a new niche for the given species, or that enables the members of the particular species to better use the existing niche and thus provides them with an advantage in ecological competition with the members of species utilizing the same or a similar niche.The second means consist in a change in traits that, while they do not affect the character and effectiveness of use of ecological niches, do directly affect the probability of speciation or extinction.

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The classical Darwinian theory of evolution can explain the evolution of adaptive traits only in asexual organisms. The frozen plasticity theory is much more general: It can also explain the origin and evolution of adaptive traits in both asexual and sexual organisms Read more
Draft translation from: Evoluční biologie, 2. vydání (Evolutionary biology, 2nd edition), J. Flegr, Academia Prague 2009. The translation was not done by biologist, therefore any suggestion concerning proper scientific terminology and language usage are highly welcomed. You can send your comments to flegratcesnet [dot] cz. Thank you.