Understanding the movement of species' ranges is a classic ecological problem that takes on urgency in this era of global change. Historically treated as a purely ecological process, range expansion is now understood to involve eco-evolutionary feedbacks due to spatial genetic structure that emerges as populations spread. We synthesize empirical and theoretical work on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of range expansion, with emphasis on bridging directional, deterministic processes that favor evolved increases in dispersal and demographic traits with stochastic processes that lead to the random fixation of alleles and traits. We develop a framework for understanding the joint influence of these processes in changing the mean and variance of expansion speed and its underlying traits. Our synthesis of recent laboratory experiments supports the consistent role of evolution in accelerating expansion speed on average, and highlights unexpected diversity in how evolution can influence variability in speed-results not well predicted by current theory. We discuss and evaluate support for three classes of modifiers of eco-evolutionary range dynamics (landscape context, trait genetics, and biotic interactions), identify emerging themes, and suggest new directions for future work in a field that stands to increase in relevance as populations move in response to global change.

中文翻译：

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范围扩展的生态进化动力学

了解物种分布范围的移动是一个经典的生态问题，在这个全球变化的时代变得紧迫。历史上被视为一个纯粹的生态过程，现在范围扩展被理解为涉及生态进化反馈，这是由于随着种群扩散而出现的空间遗传结构。我们综合了关于范围扩展的生态进化动力学的经验和理论工作，重点是桥接定向的、确定性的过程，这些过程有利于分散和人口特征的进化增加，随机过程导致等位基因和性状的随机固定。我们开发了一个框架来理解这些过程在改变扩张速度及其潜在特征的均值和方差方面的共同影响。我们对最近实验室实验的综合支持进化在加速平均扩张速度方面的一贯作用，并突出了进化如何影响速度结果变异性的意外多样性——当前理论无法很好地预测。我们讨论和评估对生态进化范围动态（景观背景、性状遗传学和生物相互作用）的三类修饰符的支持，确定新出现的主题，并为该领域的未来工作提出新的方向，该领域的相关性随着人口的增加而增加行动以应对全球变化。