Trait adaptation promotes species coexistence in diverse predator and prey communities.

ABSTRACT: Species can adjust their traits in response to selection which may strongly influence species coexistence. Nevertheless, current theory mainly assumes distinct and time-invariant trait values. We examined the combined effects of the range and the speed of trait adaptation on species coexistence using an innovative multispecies predator-prey model. It allows for temporal trait changes of all predator and prey species and thus simultaneous coadaptation within and among trophic levels. We show that very small or slow trait adaptation did not facilitate coexistence because the stabilizing niche differences were not sufficient to offset the fitness differences. In contrast, sufficiently large and fast trait adaptation jointly promoted stable or neutrally stable species coexistence. Continuous t

SUBMITTER: Klauschies T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4972238 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature