Ecology & Evolution in Spatial Structured Environments
Ecological and evolutionary dynamics occur in environments that are intrinsically spatially structured, yet spatial environmental heterogeneity is often treated as a statistical complication (e.g., a nuisance term to be removed, a source of spatial autocorrelation to be corrected, or variance to be averaged out) rather than a central driver of biological patterns. In this talk, I show how the statistical moments of spatial heterogeneity (i.e., variation in means, variation in variability, and spatial covariance) shape ecological and evolutionary processes across scales, from populations to metacommunities. Spatial structure generates spatial contingency: whereby similar processes produce different ecological and evolutionary outcomes across landscapes due to differences in environmental configuration and connectivity. Drawing on empirical data, simulations, and theory, I illustrate how spatialized environments influence biodiversity patterns, niche composition, dispersal evolution, species coexistence, and our ability to predict species distributions. Despite strong local context dependence, consistent scaling relationships may emerge across landscapes, providing a unifying framework for understanding ecological and evolutionary variation. Together, these results reframe spatial heterogeneity as a core organizing principle of ecology and evolution, rather than a nuisance that must be removed or corrected through statistical adjustments.
About the speaker: Pedro Peres-Neto is a Professor of Biology at Concordia University and holds the Canada Research Chair (Tier I) in Spatial Ecology and Biodiversity. He is a lifetime Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Oikos. He previously held leadership roles as Vice-President of the International Biogeography Society and editorial board member for Ecography, Global Ecology and Biogeography, and Methods in Ecology and Evolution. By integrating ecological theory with rigorous quantitative methods, his research yields critical insights into predicting community dynamics and biodiversity change across ecological and evolutionary scales, from local habitats to global ecosystems.
