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

TY - JOUR

T1 - Measuring the contribution of evolution to community trait structure in freshwater zooplankton

AU - Govaert, Lynn

AU - De Meester, Luc

AU - Rousseaux, Sarah

AU - Declerck, S.A.J.

AU - Pantel, Jelena

N1 - 7233, AqE; Data archiving: data archived in Dryad (no NIOO data)

PY - 2021/10

Y1 - 2021/10

N2 - There are currently few predictions about when evolutionary processes are likely to play an important role in structuring community features. Determining predictors that indicate when evolution is expected to impact ecological processes in natural landscapes can help researchers identify eco-evolutionary ‘hotspots', where eco-evolutionary interactions are more likely to occur. Using data collected from a survey in freshwater cladoceran communities, landscape population genetic data and phenotypic trait data measured in a common garden, we applied a Bayesian linear model to assess whether the impact of local trait evolution in the keystone species Daphnia magna on cladoceran community trait values could be predicted by population genetic properties (within-population genetic diversity, genetic distance among populations), ecological properties (Simpson's diversity, phenotypic divergence) or environmental divergence. We found that the impact of local trait evolution varied among communities. Moreover, community diversity and phenotypic divergence were found to be better predictors of the contribution of evolution to community trait values than environmental features or genetic properties of the evolving species. Our results thus indicate the importance of ecological context for the impact of evolution on community features. Our study also demonstrates one way to detect signatures of eco-evolutionary interactions in communities inhabiting heterogeneous landscapes using survey data of contemporary ecological and evolutionary structure.

AB - There are currently few predictions about when evolutionary processes are likely to play an important role in structuring community features. Determining predictors that indicate when evolution is expected to impact ecological processes in natural landscapes can help researchers identify eco-evolutionary ‘hotspots', where eco-evolutionary interactions are more likely to occur. Using data collected from a survey in freshwater cladoceran communities, landscape population genetic data and phenotypic trait data measured in a common garden, we applied a Bayesian linear model to assess whether the impact of local trait evolution in the keystone species Daphnia magna on cladoceran community trait values could be predicted by population genetic properties (within-population genetic diversity, genetic distance among populations), ecological properties (Simpson's diversity, phenotypic divergence) or environmental divergence. We found that the impact of local trait evolution varied among communities. Moreover, community diversity and phenotypic divergence were found to be better predictors of the contribution of evolution to community trait values than environmental features or genetic properties of the evolving species. Our results thus indicate the importance of ecological context for the impact of evolution on community features. Our study also demonstrates one way to detect signatures of eco-evolutionary interactions in communities inhabiting heterogeneous landscapes using survey data of contemporary ecological and evolutionary structure.

KW - international

KW - Plan_S-Compliant_OA

UR - https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rxwdbrv8s

U2 - 10.1111/oik.07885

DO - 10.1111/oik.07885

M3 - Article

SN - 0030-1299

VL - 130

JO - Oikos

JF - Oikos

IS - 10

ER -