Eco-evolutionary dynamics of living systems: Applications

EEP’s research elucidates the extent to which eco-evolutionary dynamics may aggravate the global biodiversity crisis and helps to identify mitigating mechanisms that show promise. An important theme for the program in 2015 was how animal movement and plant dispersal influence eco-evolutionary dynamics and, more broadly, the maintenance of biodiversity.

• EEP research revealed how anthropogenic changes in spatial heterogeneities and environmental correlations across a network of ecological habitats decrease the biodiversity protection associated with animal and plant dispersal [1] (Figure 1).
• A complementary study investigated the evolution of dispersal distances and identifying how dispersal patterns depend on competition intensity, dispersal costs, and maternal investments [2].
• Responding to the growing need to model animal movements more realistically, EEP is extending the well-established Brownian-bridge method for predicting animal movement on the basis of positional data, such as may be obtained from GPS collars [3].
• Focusing on interactions between animal movement and phenotypic plasticity, EEP research has elucidated the conditions that facilitate the emergence of two species from a common ancestor [4].
• Recognizing that the movements of many species change with the presence or absence of predators, a new study investigated when such reactive movements stabilize ecological dynamics and how to account for them in the functional responses of ecological models [5].
• As animal movements frequently result in encounters with conspecifics, it is important to understand how these encounters affect eco-evolutionary dynamics. A recent EEP study of four widely considered interference mechanisms revealed their impacts on the ecology and evolution of populations and communities [6].
• Tailoring an eco-evolutionary model to river systems, EEP research demonstrated the crucial role that the evolution of dispersal plays for species in these systems, while simultaneously demonstrating the importance of riffles, pools, and run zones in maintaining biodiversity [7].

Figure 1. According to the spatial insurance hypothesis, biodiversity in spatially distributed ecological communities is protected by dispersal, peaking at intermediate dispersal rates (black curve). New research reveals how this effect is eroded when dispersal rates become more and more spatially heterogeneous (transition from black to blue, red, purple, brown, and orange curves) [1].

Last edited: 20 April 2016