Eco-evolutionary feedbacks and the maintenance of metacommunity diversity in a changing environment

Abstract

The presence and strength of resource competition can influence how organisms 14 adaptively respond to environmental change. Selection may thus reflect a balance between two 15 forces, adaptation to an environmental optimum and evolution to avoid strong competition. While 16 this has been explored in single communities, its implications for eco-evolutionary dynamics at 17 the metacommunity scale are unknown. We developed a simulation model of quantitative trait 18 evolution for a trait that influences an organism's carrying capacity and its intra-and interspecific 19 competition strength. Multiple species inhabited a variable three-patch landscape, and we varied 20the connectivity level of the species among patches, the presence and pace of directional 21 environmental change, and the strength of competition between the species. Our results reflected 22 some patterns previously observed in evolving metacommunity models (e.g. species sorting and 23 community monopolization), although species sorting was more common when competition 24 strength was high and monopolization was observed only when the environmental change was 25 very rapid. We also detected an eco-evolutionary feedback loop between local phenotypic 26 evolution at one site and competition at another site that maintains species diversity in some 27conditions. The existence of a feedback loop that is maintained by dispersal indicates that eco -28 evolutionary dynamics in communities operate at a landscape scale. 29 30(1) ( ) = * −( − )2 2 2 151 152 Here xopt is the trait value corresponding to the maximum carrying capacity, Kmax, and Kmax is the 153 same for all populations in the patch. Carrying capacity decreases if population traits are distant 154

Measuring the contribution of evolution to community trait structure in freshwater zooplankton

“…Their study concluded that partial niche overlap promoted adaptation, while strong niche overlap hindered adaptation. In line with this, the theoretical study of Fielding and Pantel (2020) demonstrated among-site variation in niche overlap and associated variation in the impact of community features on trait evolution in a spatially structured metacommunity. Daphnia magna is by far the largest species of the cladoceran metacommunity and is characterized by a longer developmental time, larger clutch sizes and a larger particle size range that can be grazed than other cladocerans (Lampert 1987).…”