Impact of trade-offs on eco-evolutionary
dynamics in predator-prey systems
Dr. Lutz Becks, Prof. Dr. Ursula Gaedke, Noemi Woltermann,
Elias Ehrlich, Tamara Thieser
The overall aim of this research is to gain important and crucial new insights
into the reciprocal interaction between heritable trait variation and predatorprey dynamics (i.e., eco-evolutionary dynamics), with a focus on the role of a
trade-off between being competitive and defended against predation. We will
combine modelling and analysis of existing data sets with controlled
chemostat experiments and characterize several traits that form the basis of
the trade-off within the prey population. Using different clones of the green
alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, each with known traits and trade-offs, we
will set up a series of alga-rotifer chemostat experiments testing how different
characteristics of a trade-off in the prey population affect the trait and
population dynamics in the predator-prey system. Specifically, based on
preliminary model results and models that will be developed as part of this
project, we will test the hypotheses that the curvature of the trade-off, and the
range and number of different trait values (genotypes) which are distributed
along the trade-off within the prey population, significantly affect the outcome
and form of eco-evolutionary feedback dynamics. The findings related to this
project will have broad implications for our understanding of Ahow trade-offs
A
B
affect eco-evolutionary feedback
dynamics and1 its consequences for
1
0.8
population and community
0.8 stability as well as for the maintenance of the
intraspecific trait variation0.6underlying the trade-off.
0.6 The latter is specifically
important, as a loss of trait variation will limit population´s
potential to adapt to
0.4
0.4
rapidly changing environmental conditions in the future.
palatability
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0.6
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palatability
palatability
1
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0.4
0.4
0.2
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0
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1
A
CURVATURE
CA
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1
0.8
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0.8
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0.6
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0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0
1
0.8
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palatability
1
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0.4
0.2
0
0
0.5
1
1
0
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0.5
1
1
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0 10
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max growth rate
C
C
palatability
0.2
0.2
0
B
RANGE
DB
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0
1
1
0.8
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0.6
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0.4
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0.2
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C
NUMBER
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1
max growth
max growth
rate rate
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0
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0
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0.4
0.2
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1
0.5
max growth rate
1
max growth
max growth
rate rate
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0.5
D
0.6
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10
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1
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1
population
dynamics
0
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0.8
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trait dynamics, maintenance, variance
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1
B
1
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max growth rate
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palatability
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palatability
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max growt
Further information:
http://www.evolbio.mpg.de/comdyn and http://www.unipotsdam.de/en/ibb/researchgroups/fullprofessors/ecology-and-ecosystemmodelling.html
Key papers
Koch, H., Frickel, J., Valiadi, M. & L. Becks, 2014 Why rapid, adaptive evolution
matters for community dynamics. Front. Ecol. Evol. 2:17.
Becks, L., S.P. Ellner, Jones, L. E. & N.G. Hairston Jr., 2012. The functional
genomics of an eco-evolutionary feedback loop: linking gene expression, trait
evolution, and community dynamics. Ecology Letters, 15, 492-501.
Becks, L., S.P. Ellner, Jones, L. E. & N.G. Hairston Jr. 2010. Reduction of adaptive
genetic diversity radically alters eco-evolutionary community dynamics. Ecology
Letters, 13, 989–997.
Jones, L. E., Becks, L., Ellner, S.P., Hairston Jr. N.G., Yoshida,T. & G. Fussmann.
2009. Rapid contemporary evolution and clonal food web dynamics. Phil. Trans. R.
Soc. B., 364, 1579-1591.
Tirok, K., B. Bauer, K. Wirtz & U. Gaedke (2011). Predator-prey dynamics driven by
feedback between functionally diverse trophic levels. PLoS ONE, 6, e27357.