The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories

Abstract One of the largest causes of fluctuations in the size and structure of populations is changes in the environment. In nature, these changes are often temporally autocorrelated and the strength and direction of the autocorrelation can affect population dynamics. These effects are mediated by...

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Main Authors: Maarten Postuma, Max Schmid, Frédéric Guillaume, Arpat Ozgul, Maria Paniw
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-02-01
Series:Ecosphere
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3029
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author Maarten Postuma
Max Schmid
Frédéric Guillaume
Arpat Ozgul
Maria Paniw
author_facet Maarten Postuma
Max Schmid
Frédéric Guillaume
Arpat Ozgul
Maria Paniw
author_sort Maarten Postuma
collection DOAJ
description Abstract One of the largest causes of fluctuations in the size and structure of populations is changes in the environment. In nature, these changes are often temporally autocorrelated and the strength and direction of the autocorrelation can affect population dynamics. These effects are mediated by complex, simultaneously occurring ecological and evolutionary processes, such as phenotypic plasticity and selection. Determining how these processes interact to affect responses of different life histories to autocorrelated environmental fluctuations is of paramount importance to infer which taxa are likely to go extinct or become invasive under global change. Here, we assessed the effect of autocorrelation in environmental states on the trait and population dynamics of different life histories using an evolutionary explicit individual‐based modeling approach. We found that, in general, higher positive temporal autocorrelation caused more variation in population size. Fast life histories were more affected than slow ones as they were able to adapt more quickly to varying environmental optima and therefore experienced larger initial decreases in population size when optima changed. Including adaptive phenotypic plasticity buffered the effects of autocorrelation on population dynamics while nonadaptive plasticity amplified them, especially for slow life histories, which recovered less from maladaptation. This study highlights that integration of phenotypic plasticity, selection, and population dynamics is important to improve our understanding of how different life histories deal with autocorrelated climate variability.
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spelling doaj.art-3288106ae53841cfaf9714bdd29892572022-12-21T21:09:23ZengWileyEcosphere2150-89252020-02-01112n/an/a10.1002/ecs2.3029The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life historiesMaarten Postuma0Max Schmid1Frédéric Guillaume2Arpat Ozgul3Maria Paniw4Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich 8057 SwitzerlandDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich 8057 SwitzerlandDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich 8057 SwitzerlandDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich 8057 SwitzerlandDepartment of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich Zurich 8057 SwitzerlandAbstract One of the largest causes of fluctuations in the size and structure of populations is changes in the environment. In nature, these changes are often temporally autocorrelated and the strength and direction of the autocorrelation can affect population dynamics. These effects are mediated by complex, simultaneously occurring ecological and evolutionary processes, such as phenotypic plasticity and selection. Determining how these processes interact to affect responses of different life histories to autocorrelated environmental fluctuations is of paramount importance to infer which taxa are likely to go extinct or become invasive under global change. Here, we assessed the effect of autocorrelation in environmental states on the trait and population dynamics of different life histories using an evolutionary explicit individual‐based modeling approach. We found that, in general, higher positive temporal autocorrelation caused more variation in population size. Fast life histories were more affected than slow ones as they were able to adapt more quickly to varying environmental optima and therefore experienced larger initial decreases in population size when optima changed. Including adaptive phenotypic plasticity buffered the effects of autocorrelation on population dynamics while nonadaptive plasticity amplified them, especially for slow life histories, which recovered less from maladaptation. This study highlights that integration of phenotypic plasticity, selection, and population dynamics is important to improve our understanding of how different life histories deal with autocorrelated climate variability.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3029eco‐evolutionary dynamicsindividual‐based modelinglife historyphenotypic plasticitypopulation dynamicstemporal autocorrelation
spellingShingle Maarten Postuma
Max Schmid
Frédéric Guillaume
Arpat Ozgul
Maria Paniw
The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
Ecosphere
eco‐evolutionary dynamics
individual‐based modeling
life history
phenotypic plasticity
population dynamics
temporal autocorrelation
title The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
title_full The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
title_fullStr The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
title_full_unstemmed The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
title_short The effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco‐evolutionary dynamics across life histories
title_sort effect of temporal environmental autocorrelation on eco evolutionary dynamics across life histories
topic eco‐evolutionary dynamics
individual‐based modeling
life history
phenotypic plasticity
population dynamics
temporal autocorrelation
url https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3029
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