Collaborative Research: A Field-experimental Test for Evolutionary Trait-mediated Indirect Effects in Food Webs

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This project utilizes a set of small islands in the northern Caribbean as a model system to understand how interactions between ecological, evolutionary and behavioral factors determine major features of biological communities. The project centers on a large-scale experiment in which presence/absence of large predatory lizards is varied across a series of islands. Large lizards affect smaller, intermediate-size predatory lizards, and the effects cascade down through insect herbivores to the plants. The effects of the top predator on lower trophic levels are mediated largely through effects on the intermediate predator. Such effects can be driven by changes in species densities, but can also depend on specific behavioral and evolutionary traits. The effects of variation in these traits on food-web interactions will be followed over multiple generations. The intermediate predator would be expected to initially decrease but then recover as it behaviorally and evolutionarily adjusts to increased predation risk. The pattern of density change combined with the habitat shift should cause major changes in lower levels of the food web. A comparative study parallels the experiment to determine the food-web pathways generating the experimental results. This study will inform us regarding the interplay between ecology, behavior, and evolution in complex food webs.This study substantially promotes undergraduate research experiences in field and lab studies and targets groups underrepresented in science. The study also provides graduate-student training and communicates findings to the public via popular articles, public presentations, documentary films, and museum exhibits. Every effort is made to relate this research to applied sciences such as improving agroecosystems, dealing with biological invasions, and preserving species and habitats.