in diversity, Rosenzweig's reconciliation ecology was born. Evolutionary ecology has been studied using symbiotic relationships between organisms to determine the evolutionary forces by which such relationships develop. In symbiotic relationships, the symbiont must confer some advantage to its host in order to persist and continue to be evolutionarily viable. Research has been conducted using aphids and the symbiotic bacteria with which they coevolve. These bacteria are most frequently conserved from generation to generation, displaying high levels of vertical transmission. Results have shown that these symbiotic bacteria ultimately confer some resistance to parasites to their host aphids, which both increases the fitness of the aphids and lead to symbiont-mediated coevolution between the species. Color variation in cichlid fish The effects of evolutionary ecology and its consequences can be seen in the case of color variation among African cichlid fish. With over 2,000 species, cichlid fishes are very species-rich and capable of complex social interactions. Polychromatism, the variation of color patterns within a population, occurs within cichlid fishes due to environmental adaptations and to increase chances of sexual reproduction. See also Evolutionary Ecology (journal) References Further reading Fox, C.W., Roff, D.A. and Fairbairn, D.J. 2001. Evolutionary Ecology: Concepts and Case Studies. Oxford University Press. Mayhew, P.J. 2006. Discovering Evolutionary Ecology: Bringing Together Ecology and Evolution. Oxford University Press. Pianka, E.R. 2000. Evolutionary Ecology, 6th ed. Benjamin Cummings. External links Evolutionary Ecology Research – a journal in the field. Methods in Ecology and Evolution – a journal in the field. Ecology and Evolution – Wiley Evolutionary Ecology – Springer Evolutionary biology