Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Loss of consumers constrains phenotypic evolution in the resulting food web

View ORCID ProfileMatthew A. Barbour, View ORCID ProfileChristopher J. Greyson-Gaito, Arezoo Sootodeh, Brendan Locke, View ORCID ProfileJordi Bascompte
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/527416
Matthew A. Barbour
1University of Zurich, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Zurich, 8057 ZH, Switzerland
2University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Matthew A. Barbour
  • For correspondence: matthew.barbour@ieu.uzh.ch
Christopher J. Greyson-Gaito
2University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
3University of Guelph, Department of Integrative Biology, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Christopher J. Greyson-Gaito
Arezoo Sootodeh
2University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brendan Locke
4Humboldt State University, Department of Biological Sciences, Arcata, CA 95521, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jordi Bascompte
1University of Zurich, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Zurich, 8057 ZH, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Jordi Bascompte
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Data/Code
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

The loss of biodiversity is altering the structure of ecological networks; however, we are currently in a poor position to predict how these altered communities will affect the evolutionary potential of remaining populations. Theory on adaptive landscapes provides a framework for predicting how selection constrains phenotypic evolution, but often treats the network context of evolving populations as a “black box”. Here, we integrate ecological networks and adaptive landscapes to examine how changes in food-web structure shape evolutionary constraints. We conducted a field experiment that removed a guild of larval parasitoids that imposed direct and indirect selection pressures on an insect herbivore. We then measured herbivore survival as a function of three key phenotypic traits to estimate directional, quadratic, and correlational selection gradients in each treatment. We used these selection gradients to characterize the slope and curvature of the adaptive landscape to understand the direct and indirect effects of consumer loss on evolutionary constraints. We found that the number of traits under directional selection increased with the removal of larval parasitoids, indicating greater selective constraints on the trajectory of evolutionary change. Similarly, we found that the removal of larval parasitoids altered the curvature of the adaptive landscape in such a way that tended to decrease the evolvability of the traits we measured in the next generation. Our results suggest that the loss of trophic interactions can impose greater constraints on phenotypic evolution. This indicates that the simplification of ecological communities may constrain the adaptive potential of remaining populations to future environmental change.

Impact Summary The loss of biodiversity is rewiring the web of life; however, it is uncertain how this will affect the ability of remaining populations to evolve and adapt to future environments. To gain insight to these effects, we conducted a field experiment that either maintained a natural community of predators or removed all but one of the predators that was able to impose selection on a common prey. We found that the loss of predators acted to constrain prey evolution toward a particular combination of traits. Moreover, we found that the loss of predators could make it more difficult for prey to adapt to uncertain future environments. Taken together, our results suggest that the simplification of the web of life may constrain the adaptive potential of remaining populations.

Footnotes

  • https://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/108833263

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted September 18, 2019.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Data/Code
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Loss of consumers constrains phenotypic evolution in the resulting food web
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Loss of consumers constrains phenotypic evolution in the resulting food web
Matthew A. Barbour, Christopher J. Greyson-Gaito, Arezoo Sootodeh, Brendan Locke, Jordi Bascompte
bioRxiv 527416; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/527416
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Loss of consumers constrains phenotypic evolution in the resulting food web
Matthew A. Barbour, Christopher J. Greyson-Gaito, Arezoo Sootodeh, Brendan Locke, Jordi Bascompte
bioRxiv 527416; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/527416

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Evolutionary Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4677)
  • Biochemistry (10348)
  • Bioengineering (7669)
  • Bioinformatics (26318)
  • Biophysics (13515)
  • Cancer Biology (10680)
  • Cell Biology (15429)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8491)
  • Ecology (12815)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16845)
  • Genetics (11386)
  • Genomics (15473)
  • Immunology (10608)
  • Microbiology (25193)
  • Molecular Biology (10212)
  • Neuroscience (54420)
  • Paleontology (401)
  • Pathology (1668)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2893)
  • Physiology (4339)
  • Plant Biology (9241)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1586)
  • Synthetic Biology (2557)
  • Systems Biology (6777)
  • Zoology (1463)