Eco-evolutionary feedbacks promote fluctuating selection and long-term stability of antagonistic networks

Abstract

Studies have shown the potential for rapid adaptation in coevolving populations and that the structure of species interaction networks can modulate the vulnerability of ecological systems to perturbations. Although the feedback loop between population dynamics and coevolution of traits is crucial for understanding long-term stability in ecological assemblages, modelling eco-evolutionary dynamics in species-rich assemblages is still a challenge. We explore how eco-evolutionary feedbacks influence trait evolution and species abundances in 23 empirical antagonistic networks. We show that, if selection due to antagonistic interactions is stronger than other selective pressures, eco-evolutionary feedbacks lead to higher mean species abundances and lower temporal variation in abundances. By contrast, strong selection of antagonistic interactions leads to higher temporal variation of traits and on interaction strengths. Our results present a theoretical link between the study of the species persistence and coevolution in networks of interacting species, pointing out the ways by which coevolution may decrease the vulnerability of species within antagonistic networks to demographic fluctuation.

Analysing eco‐evolutionary dynamics—The challenging complexity of the real world

“…Developing insights in such rules might involve the combined effort of empirical work and targeted modelling. Theoretical modelling can help to identify instances where eco‐evolutionary feedbacks could potentially be important (Govaert et al, ), or to test the strength of these feedbacks in more complex systems (de Andreazzi, Guimarães, & Melián, ). Further development of theory will be crucial in order to be able to incorporate eco‐evolutionary dynamics in predictions (Urban et al, ) and management beyond the specific settings that have been empirically documented.…”

“…Developing insights in such rules might involve the combined effort of empirical work and targeted modelling. Theoretical modelling can help to identify instances where eco-evolutionary feedbacks could potentially be important (Govaert et al, 2018), or to test the strength of these feedbacks in more complex systems (de Andreazzi, Guimarães, & Melián, 2018).…”

Eco‐evolutionary feedbacks—Theoretical models and perspectives

“…The resulting changes in species interactions (trophic levels; evo‐to‐eco) mediate further divergence in foraging traits and predator vulnerability (eco‐to‐evo). A study by de Andreazzi, Guimarães, and Melián () explicitly evaluated the effects of network structure on eco‐evolutionary dynamics for long‐term ecological network stability, by using different antagonistic species networks in their simulations. Population dynamics were modelled to depend on the phenotypic trait, while mean trait evolution depended on the environment and the antagonistic species interactions.…”

Principles of Ecology Revisited: Integrating Information and Ecological Theories for a More Unified Science

“…We posit that including such semiotic information into models of evolution will reveal new insights about natural populations, species interactions and the stability of ecological communities. The model outlined above can be run for many generations and for each time step, the phenotypes after selection and changes driven by structural modifications or plasticity in the information and the non-information traits can be used to update the fitness values (Melo and Marroig, 2015;DeLong and Gibert, 2016;de Andreazzi et al, 2018). Fitness will then determine the ecological dynamics and the total information content in the ecosystem.…”