PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - A De Roissart AU - N Wybouw AU - D Renault AU - T Van Leeuwen AU - D Bonte TI - Evolution in spatial and spatiotemporal variable metapopulations changes a herbivore’s host plant range AID - 10.1101/021683 DP - 2015 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 021683 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/07/02/021683.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/07/02/021683.full AB - The persistence and dynamics of populations largely depends on the way they are configured and integrated into space and the ensuing eco-evolutionary dynamics. We manipulated spatial and temporal variation in patch size in replicated experimental metapopulations of the herbivore mite Tetranychus urticae. Evolution over approximately 30 generations in the spatially and spatiotemporally variable metapopulation induced a significant divergence in life history traits, physiological endpoints and gene expression, but also a remarkable convergence relative to the stable reference metapopulation in traits related to size and fecundity and in its transcriptional regulation. The observed evolutionary dynamics are tightly linked to demographic changes, more specifically frequent episodes of resource shortage, and increased the reproductive performance of mites on tomato, a challenging host plant. This points towards a general, adaptive stress response in stable spatial variable and spatiotemporal variable metapopulations that pre-adapts a herbivore arthropod to novel environmental stressors.