Intraspecific Variation in a Predator Affects Community Structure and Cascading Trophic Interactions

Post, David M.; Palkovacs, Eric P.; Schielke, Erika G.; Dodson, Stanley I.

doi:10.1890/07-1216.1

Cited by 262 publications

(456 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Similarly, alewives, guppies and salamanders have been shown to exhibit phenotypic variation stemming from evolution that has impacts on the abundances of associated species and ecosystem processes [5,9,11]. These findings reinforce that top-down control is a fundamental driver of community assembly and ecosystem function [4,12,13] and shed light on the role of intraspecific variation and evolutionary processes in the effects of predation [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Adaptive genetic variation mediates bottom-up and top-down control in an aquatic ecosystem

et al. 2015

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Research in eco-evolutionary dynamics and community genetics has demonstrated that variation within a species can have strong impacts on associated communities and ecosystem processes. Yet, these studies have centred around individual focal species and at single trophic levels, ignoring the role of phenotypic variation in multiple taxa within an ecosystem. Given the ubiquitous nature of local adaptation, and thus intraspecific variation, we sought to understand how combinations of intraspecific variation in multiple species within an ecosystem impacts its ecology. Using two species that co-occur and demonstrate adaptation to their natal environments, black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we investigated the effects of intraspecific phenotypic variation on both top-down and bottom-up forces using a large-scale aquatic mesocosm experiment. Black cottonwood genotypes exhibit genetic variation in their productivity and consequently their leaf litter subsidies to the aquatic system, which mediates the strength of top-down effects from stickleback on prey abundances. Abundances of four common invertebrate prey species and available phosphorous, the most critically limiting nutrient in freshwater systems, are dictated by the interaction between genetic variation in cottonwood productivity and stickleback morphology. These interactive effects fit with ecological theory on the relationship between productivity and topdown control and are comparable in strength to the effects of predator addition. Our results illustrate that intraspecific variation, which can evolve rapidly, is an under-appreciated driver of community structure and ecosystem function, demonstrating that a multi-trophic perspective is essential to understanding the role of evolution in structuring ecological patterns.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Adaptive genetic variation mediates bottom-up and top-down control in an aquatic ecosystem

et al. 2015

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“…Guppy evolutionary history had significant effects on, for example, algal stock, gross primary production and biomass-specific productivity. Another example comes from a series of studies by Post and colleagues who tested for eco-evolutionary dynamics resulting from an initial ecological change in planktivore fish populations (landlocking of populations that originally were able to migrate between freshwater and marine environments, that is, anadromous alewives, Alosa pseudoharengus) [41][42][43] . Landlocked alewives exerted a constant grazing pressure on the zooplankton population throughout the year.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer co-evolution as an important component of the eco-evolutionary feedback

2014

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Rapid evolution in ecologically relevant traits has recently been recognized to significantly alter the interaction between consumers and their resources, a key interaction in all ecological communities. While these eco-evolutionary dynamics have been shown to occur when prey populations are evolving, little is known about the role of predator evolution and co-evolution between predator and prey in this context. Here, we investigate the role of consumer co-evolution for eco-evolutionary feedback in bacteria-ciliate microcosm experiments by manipulating the initial trait variation in the predator populations. With co-evolved predators, prey evolve anti-predatory defences faster, trait values are more variable, and predator and prey population sizes are larger at the end of the experiment compared with the nonco-evolved predators. Most importantly, differences in predator traits results in a shift from evolution driving ecology, to ecology driving evolution. Thus we demonstrate that predator co-evolution has important effects on eco-evolutionary dynamics.

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“…It is now well recognized that ecological factors, including human mediated environmental change, can cause rapid evolution, including diversification within species [4][5][6] . Recent studies have also shown the reciprocal, that the phenotypic variation that emerges on contemporary timescales can have strong effects on ecological processes 1,[7][8][9][10] . Strong effects of phenotypic variation in predators can propagate down through the food web affecting the ecology of species at multiple lower trophic levels [8][9][10][11][12] , and thereby cause a cascade of evolutionary change in prey species 12 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Emergence of a novel prey life history promotes contemporary sympatric diversification in a top predator

2015

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Intraspecific phenotypic variation can strongly impact community and ecosystem dynamics. Effects of intraspecific variation in keystone species have been shown to propagate down through the food web by altering the adaptive landscape for other species and creating a cascade of ecological and evolutionary change. However, similar bottom-up eco-evolutionary effects are poorly described. Here we show that life history diversification in a keystone prey species, the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), propagates up through the food web to promote phenotypic diversification in its native top predator, the chain pickerel (Esox niger), on contemporary timescales. The landlocking of alewife by human dam construction has repeatedly created a stable open water prey resource, novel to coastal lakes, that has promoted the parallel emergence of a habitat polymorphism in chain pickerel. Understanding how strong interactions propagate through food webs to influence diversification across multiple trophic levels is critical to understand eco-evolutionary interactions in complex natural ecosystems.

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Intraspecific Variation in a Predator Affects Community Structure and Cascading Trophic Interactions

Cited by 262 publications

References 61 publications

Adaptive genetic variation mediates bottom-up and top-down control in an aquatic ecosystem

Adaptive genetic variation mediates bottom-up and top-down control in an aquatic ecosystem

Consumer co-evolution as an important component of the eco-evolutionary feedback

Emergence of a novel prey life history promotes contemporary sympatric diversification in a top predator

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