Ecological processes and evolutionary rates

In recent years, the science of ecology has become increasingly directed toward questions at larger spatial and temporal scales. The same is true of evolutionary biology. Our working group will be a direct attempt to evaluate where and when evolutionary biology is important to our understanding of ecological analyses of large-scale spatial and temporal processes. This evolutionary/ecological link is at the heart of the major questions identified at the recent combined GSA/ESA symposium (Hunter 1998). This group will also build explicitly upon one of the research areas that has already become established at NCEAS through related working groups: the role of ongoing evolution in the organization of biodiversity.