Founder takes all


The founder takes all hypothesis refers to the evolutionary advantages conferred to first-arriving lineages in an ecosystem.
The FTA model is underpinned by demographic and ecological phenomena and processes such as the Allee effect, ‘gene surfing’, ‘high-density blocking’ and ‘priority effects’—whereby early-colonising lineages can reach high densities and thus hinder the success of late-arriving colonisers—which have been suggested to strongly influence spatial biodiversity patterns.
Scientific evidence for FTA processes has emerged from a variety of evolutionary, biogeographic and ecological research areas, with examples including the sectoring patterns sometimes evident in microbial colonies; phylogeographic sectoring of lineages inferred to have rapidly expanded into new terrain following deglaciation; the island ‘progression rule’; and sudden biological replacement following extirpation.
One possible scientific consequence of FTA dynamics is that measures of gene flow based on genetics of contemporary high-density populations may underestimate actual rates of dispersal and invasion potential.