A cascade of evolutionary change alters consumer-resource dynamics and ecosystem function
A cascade of evolutionary change alters consumer-resource dynamics and ecosystem function
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2012.0496
复制
发表时间：
2012-08
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
M. Walsh;J. Delong;T. C. Hanley;D. Post
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
M. Walsh;J. Delong;T. C. Hanley;D. Post
越来越明显的是，种内进化差异影响着种群、群落和生态系统的特性。表型和基因型的不同生态影响可能改变对许多物种的选择，并在整个食物链中促进一系列生态和进化变化。理论预测，营养水平之间的进化相互作用可能有助于生态和进化之间的假想反馈。然而，在自然环境中，“级联进化变化”的重要性是未知的。在美国康涅狄格州的湖泊中，一种捕食性鱼类--河豚的迁徙行为和摄食形态的变化，推动了一种浮游动物猎物(Daphnia Ambiua)的生活史进化。在这里，我们评估了水蚤进化对实验室中围隔生态过程的相互影响。我们表明，水蚤的生活史进化促进了种群增长率的差异，这反过来又显著改变了消费者资源动态和生态系统功能。这些实验结果与在湖泊中观察到的趋势相似。这些结果认为，在当代时间尺度上发生的级联进化变化改变了群落和生态系统的过程。
It is becoming increasingly clear that intraspecific evolutionary divergence influences the properties of populations, communities and ecosystems. The different ecological impacts of phenotypes and genotypes may alter selection on many species and promote a cascade of ecological and evolutionary change throughout the food web. Theory predicts that evolutionary interactions across trophic levels may contribute to hypothesized feedbacks between ecology and evolution. However, the importance of ‘cascading evolutionary change’ in a natural setting is unknown. In lakes in Connecticut, USA, variation in migratory behaviour and feeding morphology of a fish predator, the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), drives life-history evolution in a species of zooplankton prey (Daphnia ambigua). Here we evaluated the reciprocal impacts of Daphnia evolution on ecological processes in laboratory mesocosms. We show that life-history evolution in Daphnia facilitates divergence in rates of population growth, which in turn significantly alters consumer-resource dynamics and ecosystem function. These experimental results parallel trends observed in lakes. Such results argue that a cascade of evolutionary change, which has occurred over contemporary timescales, alters community and ecosystem processes.