The importance of species interactions in eco-evolutionary community dynamics under climate change

Abstract

Eco-evolutionary dynamics are essential in shaping the biological response of communities to ongoing climate change. Here we develop a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary framework which features more detailed species interactions, integrating evolution and dispersal. We include species interactions within and between trophic levels, and additionally, we incorporate the feature that species’ interspecific competition might change due to increasing temperatures and affect the impact of climate change on ecological communities. Our modeling framework captures previously reported ecological responses to climate change, and also reveals two key results. First, interactions between trophic levels as well as temperature-dependent competition within a trophic level mitigate the negative impact of climate change on biodiversity, emphasizing the importance of understanding biotic interactions in shaping climate change impact. Second, our trait-based perspective reveals a strong positive relationship between the within-community variation in preferred temperatures and the capacity to respond to climate change. Temperature-dependent competition consistently results both in higher trait variation and more responsive communities to altered climatic conditions. Our study demonstrates the importance of species interactions in an eco-evolutionary setting, further expanding our knowledge of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes.

Bacterial composition reflects fine-scale salinity changes while phylogenetic diversity exhibits a strong salt divide

“…While the current study did not examine the other members of the food web, past studies revealed the importance of eco-evolutionary processes of food web interactions that have important implications for climate change effects on carbon cycling (51,52).…”

“…For example, microeukaryotes such as protists could shift in composition, changing grazer pressures on bacterial prey (49, 50). While the current study did not examine the other members of the food web, past studies revealed the importance of eco-evolutionary processes of food web interactions that have important implications for climate change effects on carbon cycling (51, 52).…”

Individual-based eco-evolutionary framework: towards unifying ecology and evolution

“…Individual-based models consequently naturally fit the framework, and these modelling approaches are quickly becoming accessible as computational power increases. However, theories and models at the population (e.g., Åkesson et al 2021) andcommunity (e.g., Vellend 2016) levels are equally useful when the underlying assumptions are carefully compared with expected individual-based processes. The framework further implies that all processes at large spatial and temporal scales result from an individual-based eco-evolutionary process.…”

Seasonal Dynamics of Fruit Flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in Forests of the European Russia

“…The timing of phenological events is gradually changing as a result of climate change [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Along with other adaptive mechanisms, plasticity in phenology is essential for maintaining many aspects of biodiversity in a changing environment, such as species demography, species interaction, and species distribution [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. In response to seasonal natural changes, the species composition of populations and the number of species in them undergoes significant fluctuations [ 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”