Ecological and evolutionary dynamics

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One of the most striking features of natural ecosystems is their great diversity of species. This diversity can vary among sites and over time. Less obvious, but equally striking, is evolutionary diversity: temporal and spatial variation in gene frequencies. How is this variation generated and maintained? These questions are of fundamental interest for basic ecological and evolutionary research, and also underpin the conservation of biodiversity. At a basic level, we know the answer: the abundance of any type of organism just depends on the rates at which it gives birth, dies, and moves between sites (and on longer timescales uniquely-evolutionary forces like mutation and speciation come into play). But working out the details is extremely difficult, since rates of birth, death, and movement can vary greatly in space and time and depend on many factors.