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opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Eco-evolutionary feedback promotes Red Queen dynamics and selects for sex in predator populations

Although numerous hypotheses exist to explain the overwhelming presence of sexual reproduction across the tree of life, we still cannot explain its prevalence when considering all inherent costs involved. The Red Queen hypothesis states that sex is maintained because it can create novel genotypes with a selective advantage. This occurs when the interactions between species induce frequent environmental change. Here we investigate whether coevolution and eco-evolutionary feedback dynamics in a predator-prey system allows for indirect selection and maintenance of sexual reproduction in the predator. Combining models and chemostat experiments of a rotifer-algae system we show a continuous feedback between population and trait change along with recurrent shifts from selection by predation and competition for a limited resource. We found that a high propensity for sex was indirectly selected and was maintained in rotifer populations within environments containing these eco-evolutionary dynamics; whereas within environments under constant conditions, predators evolved rapidly to lower levels of sex. Thus, our results indicate that the influence of eco-evolutionary feedback dynamics on the overall evolutionary change has been underestimated.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics of sexual selection and sexual conflict

1.The research framework of eco‐evolutionary dynamics is increasing in popularity, as revealed by a steady stream of review articles and a recent and influential book, but primary empirical research is lagging behind. Moreover, the few empirical case studies demonstrating eco‐evolutionary dynamics might not be entirely representative. 2.Much current research on eco‐evolutionary dynamics is focused on how ecological interactions lead to natural selection on phenotypic traits ("eco‐evo"), and in turn how the evolutionary change in such traits feed back on ecological dynamics ("evo‐eco"). A key feature of eco‐evolutionary dynamics is thus a feedback loop between ecology (e. g. population dynamics) and evolution (i. e. genetic change). 3.In contrast to previous research on eco‐evolutionary dynamics driven by natural selection, the role of eco‐evolutionary feedbacks in sexual selection and sexual conflict are largely unknown. Here, I review theory and the limited empirical evidence in this area and identify some promising future lines of research. 4.I update a past review on contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits in natural populations and formulate six explicit and rigorous criteria for contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits by natural or sexual selection or sexual conflict. I then discuss the other key prediction of eco‐evolutionary dynamics (i. e. evolution by sexual selection or sexual conflict shapes ecological dynamics). My overview reveal that our current knowledge in this area is limited and mainly come from theoretical models and laboratory experiments. 5.A major challenge in eco‐evolutionary dynamics is therefore to link ecological and population dynamics with sexual selection and sexual conflict. This is not an easy task but might be possible with carefully chosen study systems and methods.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Environmental fluctuations restrict eco-evolutionary dynamics in predator-prey system

Environmental fluctuations, species interactions and rapid evolution are all predicted to affect community structure and their temporal dynamics. Although the effects of the abiotic environment and prey evolution on ecological community dynamics have been studied separately, these factors can also have interactive effects. Here we used bacteria–ciliate microcosm experiments to test for eco-evolutionary dynamics in fluctuating environments. Specifically, we followed population dynamics and a prey defence trait over time when populations were exposed to regular changes of bottom-up or top-down stressors, or combinations of these. We found that the rate of evolution of a defence trait was significantly lower in fluctuating compared with stable environments, and that the defence trait evolved to lower levels when two environmental stressors changed recurrently. The latter suggests that top-down and bottom-up changes can have additive effects constraining evolutionary response within populations. The differences in evolutionary trajectories are explained by fluctuations in population sizes of the prey and the predator, which continuously alter the supply of mutations in the prey and strength of selection through predation. Thus, it may be necessary to adopt an eco-evolutionary perspective on studies concerning the evolution of traits mediating species interactions.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics in metacommunities: ecological inheritance, helping within species, and harming between species

Understanding selection on intra- and inter-specific interactions that take place in dispersal-limited communities is a challenge for ecology and evolutionary biology. The problem is that local demographic stochasticity generates eco-evolutionary dynamics that are generally too complicated to make tractable analytical investigations. Here, we circumvent this problem by approximating the selection gradient on a quantitative trait that influences local community dynamics, assuming that such dynamics are deterministic with a stable fixed point. We nonetheless incorporate unavoidable kin selection effects arising from demographic stochasticity. Our approximation reveals that selection depends on how an individual expressing a trait-change influences: (1) its own fitness and the fitness of its current relatives; and (2) the fitness of its downstream relatives through modifications of local ecological conditions (i.e., through ecological inheritance). Mathematically, the effects of ecological inheritance on selection are captured by dispersal-limited versions of press-perturbations of community ecology. We use our approximation to investigate the evolution of helping within- and harming between-species when these behaviours influence demography. We find that altruistic helping evolves more readily when intra-specific competition is for material resources rather than for space because in this case, the costs of kin competition tend to paid by downstream relatives. Similarly, altruistic harming between species evolves when it alleviates downstream relatives from inter-specific competition. Beyond these examples, our approximation can help better understand the influence of ecological inheritance on a variety of eco-evolutionary dynamics in metacommunities, from consumer-resource and predator-prey coevolution to selection on mating systems with demographic feedbacks.

Supplementary material 1 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Detailed design of the Field Experiment

Supplementary material 2 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Brief description of the Field Experiment

Figure 1 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Figure 1 A. Conceptual diagram of the mechanistic approach of the planned Research Unit. B. Conceptual scheme of the proposed evolutionary niche shifts in plant monocultures and mixtures. This idea feeds into our understanding of how evolutionary history influences the ecological interactions of species that compete for growth factors, ultimately defining biotope space (gray rectangle; Hutchinson 1978). Graphically depicted, species (ellipses) in mixture will show increasing niche differentiation over time due to competition (niche overlap). Thus, history of selection in diverse communities is expected to result in greater interspecific differences (less overlap of ellipses) and more specialization (smaller ellipses) than a history of isolation (monocultures). In monocultures, species will experience strong selection pressure by accumulating soil-borne pathogens, and species may invest energy in chemical and morphological defense traits (depicted by ellipses shifting towards the same corner of the habitat space). Plants in mixtures together may exploit more available biotope space than single monocultures, causing increasing diversity effects on ecosystem functions over time. However, there is limited support for this assumption for traits related to light (e.g., Lipowsky et al. 2015, Roscher et al. 2015) and resource use (Jesch et al. 2018) so far.

Figure 4 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Figure 4 Experimental design and hypotheses of the Ecotron Experiment. Briefly, four treatments will be established based on monoliths from a selection of the 9-year old Trait-Based Experiment (TBE; Ebeling et al. 2014) and from bare ground plots of the Jena Experiment as well as two seed sources: the respective plots and the original seed material that was used for the set-up of the TBE. (1) With plot-specific plant history and with plot-specific soil history; (2) without plot-specific plant history and with plot-specific soil history; (3) with plot-specific plant history and without plot-specific soil history; and (4) without plot-specific plant history and without plot-specific soil history. We expect the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships to differ among the four treatments (see main text for details).

Figure 3 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Figure 3 Hypothesized slope of BEF relationships in the different treatments of the Field Experiment (see main text for details). Note that the 'with plant history, with soil history' only serves as a control in the Field Experiment, and effects of plant history can only be tested in the planned Ecotron Experiment. Redrawn after Vogel et al. (2019). '+', with; '-', without.

Supplementary material 4 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Detailed design of the Ecotron Experiment

Supplementary material 5 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Brief description of the Ecotron Experiment

Figure 2 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Figure 2 Structure of the proposed Research Unit. Three complementary experimental approaches are envisaged to study long-term biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships, and how these are influenced by plant history and soil history. BEF patterns are studied in the Field Experiment with long-term plant diversity plots and manipulations of soil-history effects. BEF mechanisms are studied in the Ecotron Experiment and in Microcosm Experiments. In the Ecotron Experiment, plant history and soil history are independently crossed and detailed process measurements are possible. The Microcosm Experiments zoom in on focal interactions. In the Field Experiment and in the Ecotron Experiment, studies are conducted at the community level as well as at the plant individual level (magnifier; see detailed design of studies in the Appendices). Subprojects' (SPs') participation in experiments are illustrated with lines. The SPs of the proposed Research Unit fall into two tightly linked main categories (in gray) with two research areas each that aim at exploring variation in community assembly processes, micro-evolutionary changes, and resulting differences in biotic interactions as determinants of the long-term BEF relationship. Subprojects under "Microbial community assembly" (blue) and "Assembly and functions of animal communities" (red) mostly focus on plant diversity effects on the assembly of communities and their feedback effects on biotic interactions and ecosystem functions, while subprojects under "Mediators of plant-biotic interactions" (orange) and "Intraspecific diversity and micro-evolutionary changes" (green) mostly focus on plant diversity effects on plant trait expression and micro-evolution. PIs with requested personnel are underlined.

Supplementary material 3 from: Eisenhauer N, Bonkowski M, Brose U, Buscot F, Durka W, Ebeling A, Fischer M, Gleixner G, Heintz-Buschart A, Hines J, Jesch A, Lange M, Meyer S, Roscher C, Scheu S, Schielzeth H, Schloter M, Schulz S, Unsicker S, van Dam NM, Weigelt A, Weisser WW, Wirth C, Wolf J, Schmid B (2019) Biotic interactions, community assembly, and eco-evolutionary dynamics as drivers of long-term biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships. Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e47042. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e47042

Plant species lists of the Field Experiment and the Ecotron Experiment

publicAug 2015View details →

Data from: Adaptive radiation driven by the interplay of eco-evolutionary and landscape dynamics

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publicDec 2018View details →

Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics of sexual selection and sexual conflict

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publicJul 2018View details →

Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics in metacommunities: ecological inheritance, helping within species, and harming between species

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