10.5061/DRYAD.4B866R7
Scheuerl, Thomas
University of Helsinki
Cairns, Johannes
University of Helsinki
Becks, Lutz
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
Hiltunen, Teppo
University of Helsinki
Data from: Predator co-evolution and prey trait variability determine
species coexistence
Dryad
dataset
2019
Coevolution
Community dynamics
eco-evolutionary dynamics
Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25
2019-04-25T20:15:12Z
2019-04-25T20:15:12Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0245
16564 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Predation is one of the key ecological mechanisms allowing species
coexistence and influencing biological diversity. However, ecological
processes are subject to contemporary evolutionary change, and the degree
to which predation affects diversity ultimately depends on the interplay
between evolution and ecology. Furthermore, ecological interactions that
influence species co-existence can be altered by reciprocal co-evolution
especially in the case of antagonistic interactions such as predation or
parasitism. Here we used an experimental evolution approach to test for
the role of initial trait variation in the prey population and
co-evolutionary history of the predator in the ecological dynamics of a
two-species bacterial community predated by a ciliate. We found that
initial trait variation both at the bacterial and ciliate level enhanced
species coexistence, and that subsequent trait evolutionary trajectories
depended on the initial genetic diversity present in the population. Our
findings provide further support to the notion that the ecology-centric
view of diversity maintenance must be reinvestigated in light of recent
findings in the field of eco-evolutionary dynamics.
Data from: Evolutionary contribution to coexistence of competitors in
microbial food websScheuerl data.zip