On Escalation

Abstract

Organisms have been important agents of selection throughout the history of life. The processes and outcomes of this selection are the subject of this review. Among these, escalation is the most widespread. The primary selective agents are powerful competitors and consumers, which together push many populations toward higher performance in acquiring and defending resources while relegating less competitive species to physiologically marginal settings, where escalation also ensues. The extent to which performance standards rise depends on enabling factors, which control availability of and access to resources. By establishing positive feedbacks between species and enabling factors, effective competitors regulate and enhance resource supply. The pace of escalation toward greater power and reach is dictated by geological factors as well as by growing interdependencies between species and their resources. Evolutionary events on land related to the production of oxygen may have been instrumental in triggering the major episodes of escalation.