title: Evolution of bacterial life-history traits is sensitive to community structure.
abstract: Very few studies have experimentally assessed the evolutionary effects of species interactions within the same trophic level. Here we show that when Serratia marcescens evolve in multispecies communities, their growth rate exceeds the growth rate of the bacteria that evolved alone, whereas the biomass yield gets lower. In addition to the community effects per se, we found that few species in the communities caused strong effects on S. marcescens evolution. The results indicate that evolutionary responses (of a focal species) are different in communities, compared to species evolving alone. Moreover, selection can lead to very different outcomes depending on the community structure. Such context dependencies cast doubt on our ability to predict the course of evolution in the wild, where species often inhabit very different kinds of communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Jyvaskyla, P. O. Box 35, Jyväskylä, 40014, Finland. tketola@jyu.fi.
authors.forename: Tarmo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ketola
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Jyvaskyla, P. O. Box 35, Jyväskylä, 40014, Finland.
authors.forename: Lauri
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mikonranta
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, University of Jyvaskyla, P. O. Box 35, Jyväskylä, 40014, Finland.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mappes
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000071421:Life History Traits; D064307:Microbiota; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Bacteria; Serratia marcescens; competition; experimental evolution; species diversity