The evolution of trait correlations constrains phenotypic adaptation to high CO₂ in a eukaryotic alga.

ABSTRACT: Microbes form the base of food webs and drive biogeochemical cycling. Predicting the effects of microbial evolution on global elemental cycles remains a significant challenge due to the sheer number of interacting environmental and trait combinations. Here, we present an approach for integrating multivariate trait data into a predictive model of trait evolution. We investigated the outcome of thousands of possible adaptive walks parameterized using empirical evolution data from the alga Chlamydomonas exposed to high CO₂. We found that the direction of historical bias (existing trait correlations) influenced both the rate of adaptation and the evolved phenotypes (trait combinations). Critically, we use fitness landscapes derived directly from empirical trait values to capt

SUBMITTER: Walworth NG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8206706 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature