title: Experimental Evidence of an Eco-evolutionary Feedback during Adaptive Divergence.
abstract: Differences in how organisms modify their environment can evolve rapidly and might influence adaptive population divergence. In a common garden experiment in aquatic mesocosms, we found that adult stickleback from a recently diverged pair of lake and stream populations had contrasting effects on ecosystem metrics. These modifications were caused by both genetic and plastic differences between populations and were sometimes comparable in magnitude to those caused by the presence/absence of stickleback. Lake and stream fish differentially affected the biomass of zooplankton and phytoplankton, the concentration of phosphorus, and the abundance of several prey (e.g., copepods) and non-prey (e.g., cyanobacteria) species. The adult-mediated effects on mesocosm ecosystems influenced the survival and growth of a subsequent generation of juvenile stickleback reared in the same mesocosms. The prior presence of adults decreased the overall growth rate of juveniles, and the prior presence of stream adults lowered overall juvenile survival. Among the survivors, lake juveniles grew faster than co-occurring stream juveniles, except in mesocosm ecosystems previously modified by adult lake fish that were reared on plankton. Overall, our results provide evidence for reciprocal interactions between ecosystem dynamics and evolutionary change (i.e., eco-evolutionary feedbacks) in the early stages of adaptive population divergence.
authors.affiliation: Aquatic Ecology Department, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Eawag, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland. Electronic address: blake.matthews@eawag.ch.
authors.forename: Blake
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: Fish Ecology and Evolution Department, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Eawag, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland; Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aebischer
authors.affiliation: Aquatic Ecology Department, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Eawag, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland; Zoological Institute, University of Basel, 4051 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Sullam
authors.affiliation: Fish Ecology and Evolution Department, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Eawag, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bänz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lundsgaard-Hansen
authors.affiliation: Fish Ecology and Evolution Department, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeochemistry, Eawag, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ole
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Seehausen
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D018533:Biomass; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus
keywords: adaptive divergence; eco-evolutionary dynamics; ecological speciation; ecosystem; rapid evolution; stickleback