Abstract
Understanding biological range expansions and invasions is of great ecological and economical interest. Importantly, spatial dynamics can be deeply affected by rapid evolution depending on the ecological context. Using experimental evolution in replicated microcosm landscapes and numerical analyses we show experimentally that the ecological process of range expansions leads to the evolution of increased dispersal. This evolutionary change counter-intuitively feeds back on (macro-)ecological patterns affecting the spatial distribution of population densities. While existing theory suggests that densities decrease from range cores to range margins due to K-selection, we show the reverse to be true when competition is considered explicitly including resource dynamics. We suggest that a dispersal-foraging trade-off, leading to more ‘prudent' foraging at range margins, is the driving mechanism behind the macroecological pattern reported. In conclusion, rapid multi-trait evolution and eco-evolutionary feedbacks are highly relevant for understanding macroecological patterns and designing appropriate conservation strategies.
Highlights
Understanding biological range expansions and invasions is of great ecological and economical interest
This good correspondence between velocity and spatial dispersal is due to the fact that the turning angle distributions did not differ between populations in the range core and at the range margin (Supplementary Fig. 2b)
To separate the relative importance of these two types of factors we repeated the velocity measurements in all populations from the range core and the range margin after 2 days of common garden environment (2 days correspond to B10 doubling time periods in our study organism)
Summary
Understanding biological range expansions and invasions is of great ecological and economical interest. Range shifts and biological invasions are increasing in frequency, likely due to anthropogenic habitat conversion, species introductions or climate change[1,2,3,4] While it is ecologically and economically highly relevant to predict the spatiotemporal dynamics of species’ ranges, this task remains challenging[5,6,7] as populations experiencing novel environments can undergo rapid evolution[8,9], which may lead to complex eco-evolutionary dynamics[10]. Current theory states that population densities should decline towards range margins This pattern is thought to be due to evolutionary effects resulting from well documented life history trade-offs between dispersiveness, carrying capacity (proxy for competitive ability) and reproduction[18]. Populations at range margins experiencing r-selection should be characterized by high growth rates and low densities
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