coevolution

Examples of coevolution in the following topics:

• Herbivory and Pollination

  • The diversity of plants can be attributed to pollination and herbivory, both examples of coevolution between animals and plants.
  • Coevolution of flowering plants and insects is a hypothesis that has received much attention and support, especially because both angiosperms and insects diversified at about the same time in the middle Mesozoic.
  • Coevolution of herbivores and plant defenses is observed in nature.

• Evolution of Angiosperms

  • The relationship between pollinator and flower characteristics is one of the great examples of coevolution.

• Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolution of Pathogens

  • Coevolution between parasite and host can lead to hosts becoming resistant to the parasites or the parasites may evolve greater virulence, leading to immunopathological disease.

• Evolution of Gymnosperms

  • The scorpionflies probably engaged in pollination mutualisms with gymnosperms, long before the similar and independent coevolution of nectar-feeding insects on angiosperms.

• The Cambrian Explosion of Animal Life

  • There is also support for theories that argue that ecological relationships between species, such as changes in the food web, competition for food and space, and predator-prey relationships, were primed to promote a sudden, massive coevolution of species.