How variation between individuals affects species coexistence

Hart, Simon P.; Schreiber, Sebastian J.; Levine, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1111/ele.12618

Cited by 273 publications

(423 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Further, a reconciliation of the classical niche theory extended in our multidimensional framework with the treatment of 'niche factors' in many modern works (Chase and Leibold 2003) will need to be attempted. Individual variation in the use of different food sources and habitats is unlikely to be independent of measures such as the R* that predict population-level resource consumption, though recent theory suggests that individual variation in either univariate resource use or demographic parameters should make coexistence of competitors less likely (Barab as and D'Andrea 2016, Hart et al 2016). We acknowledge that our framework does not incorporate all current conceptions of the ecological niche, and stress the importance of a broader consideration of the dimensionality of individual niche variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent theory predicts that individual variation in a single dimension should impede coexistence by causing individuals to compete more strongly with ecologically similar heterospecifics than with dissimilar conspecifics (Barab as and D'Andrea 2016, Hart et al 2016). Recent theory predicts that individual variation in a single dimension should impede coexistence by causing individuals to compete more strongly with ecologically similar heterospecifics than with dissimilar conspecifics (Barab as and D'Andrea 2016, Hart et al 2016).…”

Section: Coexistence and Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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The dimensionality of individual niche variation

Ingram

Costa‐Pereira

Araújo

2018

Ecology

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The inherently multidimensional nature of the niche has not yet been integrated into the investigation of individual niche specialization within populations. We propose a framework for modeling the between- and within-individual components of the population niche as a set of variance-covariance matrices, which can be visualized with ellipses or ellipsoids. These niche components can be inferred using multiple response mixed models, and can incorporate diverse types of data, including diet composition, stable isotopes, spatial location, and other continuous measures of niche dimensions. We outline how considering both individual and population niches in multiple dimensions may enhance our understanding of key concepts in ecology and evolution. Considering multiple dimensions as well as the within-individual component of variation can lead to more meaningful measures of niche overlap between species. The impact of a population on its food web or ecosystem can depend on the degree of individual variation (via Jensen's inequality), and we suggest how the dimensionality of individual specialization could amplify this effect. Finally, we draw from concepts in quantitative genetics and the study of animal personalities to propose new hypotheses about the ecological and evolutionary basis of niche shifts in multiple dimensions. We illustrate key ideas using empirical data from sea otters, wetland frogs, and threespine stickleback, and discuss outstanding questions about the consequences of multidimensional niche variation. Setting variation among individuals in an explicitly multivariate framework has the potential to transform our understanding of a range of ecological and evolutionary processes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coexistence and Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

The dimensionality of individual niche variation

Ingram

Costa‐Pereira

Araújo

2018

Ecology

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“…Specifically, we asked: (a) How consistent are differences in individual specialization across species and communities? We predict that co‐occurring species should present a consistent hierarchy of individual variation across communities (Figure a), which would favour their local coexistence (Barabás & D'Andrea, ; Hart et al., ). (b) What is the relative importance of intraspecific and interspecific competition, predation and ecological opportunity in explaining the variation of individual specialization across populations?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Drivers of individual niche variation in coexisting species

Costa‐Pereira

Rudolf

Souza

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Although neglected by classic niche theory, individual variation is now recognized as a prevalent phenomenon in nature with evolutionary and ecological relevance. Recent theory suggests that differences in individual variation across competitors can affect species coexistence and community patterns. However, the degree of individual variation is flexible across wild populations and we still know little about the ecological drivers of this variation across populations of single species and, especially, across coexisting species. Here, we aimed to (a) elucidate the major drivers of individual niche variation in natural communities and (b) to determine how consistent this variation is across coexisting species and communities. We analysed natural patterns of individual-level niche variation in four species of coexisting generalist frogs across a wide range of tropical communities. Specifically, we used gut contents and stable isotopes (δ C and δ N) from frog species and their prey to quantify individual niche specialization. Then, we combined data on local community structure, availability of prey, phylogenetic relationships and predator-prey size models to test how this variation is related to four ecological factors which are predicted to be key drivers of individual specialization: intraspecific competition, interspecific competition, ecological opportunity (i.e., diversity of resources) and predation. We found that the degree of individual trophic specialization varied by up to ninefold across populations within the same species. This sizable variation in trophic specialization across populations was at least partially explained by gradients of density of competitors (both conspecifics and heterospecifics) and intraguild predation. However, the specific relationships between individual specialization and these ecological gradients were strongly species-specific. As consequences, the identity of the species with more individual variation changed among sites and there was typically no spatial correlation in the degree of individual specialization across coexisting species. Our results show that individual niche specialization within and across species can be strongly context-dependent and that hierarchies of individual variation among coexisting species are not necessarily consistent across communities. Recent theory suggests that this pattern could lead to concurrent changes in competitive interactions across sites and thereby could play a key role in species coexistence at the landscape level. Our results suggest that individual variation across and within coexisting species has the potential to affect not only species coexistence at local communities, but also regional diversity patterns.

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“…While evidence is accumulating for intraspecific variation and its ecological significance (Des Roches et al, 2018;Violle et al, 2012), the literature has so far only indicated that coexistence may be weakly facilitated (Lichstein et al, 2007) or further destabilized (Hart et al, 2016) by intraspecific variation. The coexistence mechanism we describe in the context of bacterial systems is in contrast with Hart et al (2016) in that selection is operating in our case and differs from Lichstein et al (2007) in that selection is dynamic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of individual nonheritable variation on fitness estimation and coexistence

Gomes

King

Nunes

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Demographic theory and data have emphasized that nonheritable variation in individual frailty enables selection within cohorts, affecting the dynamics of a population while being invisible to its evolution. Here, we include the component of individual variation in longevity or viability which is nonheritable in simple bacterial growth models and explore its ecological and evolutionary impacts. First, we find that this variation produces consistent trends in longevity differences between bacterial genotypes when measured across stress gradients. Given that direct measurements of longevity are inevitably biased due to the presence of this variation and ongoing selection, we propose the use of the trend itself for obtaining more exact inferences of genotypic fitness. Second, we show how species or strain coexistence can be enabled by nonheritable variation in longevity or viability. These general conclusions are likely to extend beyond bacterial systems.

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How variation between individuals affects species coexistence

Cited by 273 publications

References 57 publications

The dimensionality of individual niche variation

The dimensionality of individual niche variation

Drivers of individual niche variation in coexisting species

The effects of individual nonheritable variation on fitness estimation and coexistence

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