Speaker
Description
Feedbacks between heritable trait change and the dynamics of populations, communities, and ecosystems are central to evolutionary ecology. Models of these feedbacks require a strong understanding of the ecological dynamics of natural selection, and the effects of trait distributions on these dynamics. Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to study feedbacks that vary in their assumptions about the timescales of trait change and the mechanics of adaptive evolution. Experimental tests of feedbacks are common in lab-based studies, but rare in more natural settings. Here, I present several experimental tests of eco-evolutionary feedbacks in large outdoor mesocosms, using stickleback as a model organism. I find evidence for key components of eco-evolutionary feedbacks: i) stickleback ecotypes differentially modify their biotic and abiotic environment, ii) ecosystem modifications are persistent over time, and iii) they affect selection pressures on subsequent generations. Overall, this work suggests that adaptive phenotypic evolution can influence ecosystems in a way that affects selection on heritable phenotypes.
