The Red Queen and the Court Jester: Species Diversity and the Role of Biotic and Abiotic Factors Through Time

@article{Benton2009TheRQ,
  title={The Red Queen and the Court Jester: Species Diversity and the Role of Biotic and Abiotic Factors Through Time},
  author={Michael J. Benton},
  journal={Science},
  year={2009},
  volume={323},
  pages={728 - 732}
}
  • M. Benton
  • Published 6 February 2009
  • Environmental Science, Geography
  • Science
Evolution may be dominated by biotic factors, as in the Red Queen model, or abiotic factors, as in the Court Jester model, or a mixture of both. The two models appear to operate predominantly over different geographic and temporal scales: Competition, predation, and other biotic factors shape ecosystems locally and over short time spans, but extrinsic factors such as climate and oceanographic and tectonic events shape larger-scale patterns regionally and globally, and through thousands and… 

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