Evolution Canyons model: biodiversity, adaptation, and incipient sympatric ecological speciation across life: a revisit

Abstract The “Evolution Canyon” (EC) microsite model unfolds active evolution across life. It highlights biodiversity evolution, ecological sympatric speciation (SS) with gene flow, global warming at a microscale, and disease resistance origin. The EC model has been studied in Israel in four similar ecological replicate microsites in Carmel, Galilee, Negev, Golan mountains. The EC model unfolds interslope microclimatic divergence between tropical, hot and dry, savannoid South-Facing Slope (SFS), also dubbed “African” slope (AS) abutting at a close distance of few to hundreds of meters with a temperate cool, humid, forested north-facing slope (NFS), also dubbed “European” slope (ES). Two edaphically divergent microsites in Upper Galilee expanded the microclimatic model, namely, “Evolution Plateau” and “Evolution Slope.” The microclimatic interslope divergence of EC I–IV, mirror locally, global, continental divergence. The stressful sunny AS=SFS selects frequently across life for higher polymorphism of proteins, DNA, small sequence repeats, single nucleotide polymorphisms, DNA repair, genome size, mutations, recombination, gene transfer, splice variation, candidate gene diversity, expression, and regulation, against the abiotic harsh physical stresses. The mild shady ES=NFS selects for biotic resistance, against pathogens, microorganisms and fungi, and for increasing photosynthesis and energetics. These microsites are SS hot spots where new adaptive species originate differentially on each slope, with gene flow overruled by selection, across life. Adaptive SS is transformed from a rare to a common model of speciation. It was highlighted by the EC microclimatic model and its extensions of ecologically divergent microsites comprising geologic, edaphic, climatic, abiotic and biotic divergences abounding globally.