The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Coexistence of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes

Coexistence of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes
Coexistence of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes

The cichlid fish fauna of Lake Malawi represents one of the fastest examples of large-scale vertebrate evolution on earth. Current estimates suggest that the lake contains over 600 species, all of which have evolved from a common ancestor in under 2 million years. The cichlids have undergone a spectacular adaptive radiation and currently occupy all habitable zones and a variety of trophic niches, but many ecologically closely related coexist side by side within the same assemblages. This thesis contributes to current knowledge of the cichlid faunas by investigating the ecological processes that enable so many species to persist. Niche partitioning is believed by many researchers upon African cichlids to be the primary mechanism maintaining coexistence. Here, I demonstrate that ecological differentiation is commonplace between many sympatrically occurring species, and this is likely to prevent competitive exclusion and generate community structure. However, the role of ecological differentiation is not unequivocal. Many species coexist with large amounts of interspecific ecological overlap. Future work may determine whether alternative processes prevent competitive exclusion amongst these species. Data are further discussed with regard to competition theory, adaptive radiation, and speciation.

University of Southampton
Genner, Martin Jones
Genner, Martin Jones

Genner, Martin Jones (1999) Coexistence of Lake Malawi cichlid fishes. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

The cichlid fish fauna of Lake Malawi represents one of the fastest examples of large-scale vertebrate evolution on earth. Current estimates suggest that the lake contains over 600 species, all of which have evolved from a common ancestor in under 2 million years. The cichlids have undergone a spectacular adaptive radiation and currently occupy all habitable zones and a variety of trophic niches, but many ecologically closely related coexist side by side within the same assemblages. This thesis contributes to current knowledge of the cichlid faunas by investigating the ecological processes that enable so many species to persist. Niche partitioning is believed by many researchers upon African cichlids to be the primary mechanism maintaining coexistence. Here, I demonstrate that ecological differentiation is commonplace between many sympatrically occurring species, and this is likely to prevent competitive exclusion and generate community structure. However, the role of ecological differentiation is not unequivocal. Many species coexist with large amounts of interspecific ecological overlap. Future work may determine whether alternative processes prevent competitive exclusion amongst these species. Data are further discussed with regard to competition theory, adaptive radiation, and speciation.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: 1999

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 464031
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464031
PURE UUID: c2e7ed5c-c8ce-421b-a807-bed02709439c

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 21:00
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 21:00

Export record

Contributors

Author: Martin Jones Genner

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×