Evolution in plant populations as a driver of ecological changes in arthropod communities.

ABSTRACT: Heritable variation in traits can have wide-ranging impacts on species interactions, but the effects that ongoing evolution has on the temporal ecological dynamics of communities are not well understood. Here, we identify three conditions that, if experimentally satisfied, support the hypothesis that evolution by natural selection can drive ecological changes in communities. These conditions are: (i) a focal population exhibits genetic variation in a trait(s), (ii) there is measurable directional selection on the trait(s), and (iii) the trait(s) under selection affects variation in a community variable(s). When these conditions are met, we expect evolution by natural selection to cause ecological changes in the community. We tested these conditions in a field experiment examining the inter

SUBMITTER: Johnson MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2690498 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature