Rapid evolution of consumptive and non‐consumptive predator effects on prey population densities, bioenergetics and stoichiometry

Abstract

Predators can strongly influence prey populations not only through consumptive effects (CE) but also through non‐consumptive effects (NCE) imposed by predation risk. Yet, the impact of NCE on bioenergetic and stoichiometric body contents of prey, traits that are shaping life histories, population and food web dynamics, is largely unknown. Moreover, the degree to which NCE can evolve and can drive evolution in prey populations is rarely studied. A 6‐week outdoor mesocosm experiment with Caged‐Fish (NCE) and Free‐Ranging‐Fish (CE and NCE) treatments was conducted to quantify and compare the effects of CE and NCE on population densities, bioenergetic and stoichiometric body contents of Daphnia magna, a keystone species in freshwater ecosystems. We tested for evolution of CE and NCE by using experimental populations consisting of D. magna clones from two periods of a resurrected natural pond population: a pre‐fish period without fish and a high‐fish period with high predation pressure. Both Caged‐Fish and Free‐Ranging‐Fish treatments decreased the body size and population densities, especially in Daphnia from the high‐fish period. Only the Free‐Ranging‐Fish treatment affected bioenergetic variables, while both the Caged‐Fish and Free‐Ranging‐Fish treatments shaped body stoichiometry. The effects of CE and NCE were different between both periods indicating their rapid evolution in the natural resurrected population. Both the Caged‐Fish and Free‐Ranging‐Fish treatments changed the clonal frequencies of the experimental Daphnia populations of the pre‐fish as well as the high‐fish period, indicating that not only CE but also NCE induced clonal sorting, hence rapid evolution during the mesocosm experiment in both periods. Our results demonstrate that CE as well as NCE have the potential to change not only the body size and population density but also the bioenergetic and stoichiometric characteristics of prey populations. Moreover, we show that these responses not only evolved in the studied resurrected population, but that CE and NCE also caused differential rapid evolution in a time frame of 6 weeks (ca. four to six generations). As NCE can evolve as well as can drive evolution, they may play an important role in shaping eco‐evolutionary dynamics in predator–prey interactions.