TY - JOUR T1 - Eco-evolutionary buffering: rapid evolution facilitates regional coexistence of species engaged in local priority effects JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/040659 SP - 040659 AU - Meike J. Wittmann AU - Tadashi Fukami Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/02/23/040659.abstract N2 - Priority effects, in which early-arriving species exclude competing species from local communities, are thought to enhance regional species diversity by promoting community divergence. Theory suggests, however, that these same priority effects make it impossible for species to coexist in the region unless individuals are continuously supplied from an external species pool, often an unrealistic assumption. Here we develop an eco-evolutionary hypothesis to solve this conundrum. Using a metacommunity model in which priority effects occur via interspecific interference, we show that species can coexist regionally even in the absence of an external species pool if resistance to other species evolves rapidly under a trade-off with competitive ability. With this trade-off, species become less resistant as they become regionally more common. Rare species can then invade and dominate some local patches and consequently recover in regional frequency. Intriguingly, rare species recovery is possible even while local priority effects remain strong. This eco-evolutionary buffering of rare species appears especially effective when many small communities are connected by infrequent dispersal. ER -