RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Climate change triggers morphological and life-history evolution in response to predators
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 001263
DO 10.1101/001263
A1 Edmund M. Hart
A1 Nicholas J. Gotelli
YR 2013
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2013/12/05/001263.abstract
AB Although climate change is expected to reorganize entire communities, this restructuring might reflect either direct ecological or evolutionary responses to abiotic conditions or indirect effects mediated through altered species interactions. We tested the hypothesis that changes in trophic interaction strength due to altered predator abundance have a cascading evolutionary response in a prey species (Daphnia pulex). Using a multiyear / multigenerational field experiment, we manipulated 12 open aquatic mesocosms to simulate hydrological conditions under climate change. After a three-year press manipulation, we collected Daphnia pulex from each pond and raised them in a common garden. Using quantitative genetic methods, we measured a series of quantitative traits every other day on 108 individuals for eight weeks. There was a significant decrease in tail spine length and population growth rate in groups exposed to the most extreme future climate scenarios. Structural equation models demonstrated that trait changes were best explained as an indirect effect of climate change treatments mediated through changes in predator abundance. Our results suggest climate change can trigger a cascade of ecological and evolutionary forces by reducing predator density, which in turn acts as a selective force leading to evolutionary change in prey morphology and life history.