RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Kin competition as driver of range expansions JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 150011 DO 10.1101/150011 A1 K. Van Petegem A1 Felix Moerman A1 Maxime Dahirel A1 Emanuel A. Fronhofer A1 Martijn L. Vandegehuchte A1 Thomas Van Leeuwen A1 Nicky Wybouw A1 Robby Stoks A1 Dries Bonte YR 2017 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/14/150011.abstract AB With ongoing global change, life is continuously forced to move to novel areas, imposing rapid changes in biotic communities and ecosystem functioning[1]. As dispersal is central to range dynamics, factors promoting fast and distant dispersal are key to understanding and predicting range expansions. As the range expands, genetic variation is strongly depleted and genetic homogenisation increases[2–4]. Such conditions should reduce evolutionary potential, but also impose severe kin competition. Although kin competition in turn drives dispersal[5], we lack insights into its contribution to range expansions, relative to other causal processes. To separate evolutionary dynamics from kin competition, we combined simulation modelling and experimental range expansion using the spider mite Tetranychus urticae. Both modelling and experimental evolution demonstrated that plastic responses to kin structure increased range expansion speed by about 20%, while the effects of evolution and spatial sorting were marginal. This insight resolves an important paradox between the loss of genetic variation and earlier observed evolutionary dynamics facilitating range expansions. Kin competition may thus provide a social rescue mechanism in populations that are forced to keep up with fast climate change.