The ripple effects of clines from coevolutionary hotspots to coldspots.

Abstract

Coevolution has the potential to alter not only the ecological interactions of coevolving partners, but also their interactions with yet other species. The effects of coevolution may ripple throughout networks of interacting species, cascading across trophic levels, swamping competitors, or facilitating survival or reproduction of yet other species linked only indirectly to the coevolving partners. These ripple effects of coevolution may differ among communities, amplifying how the coevolutionary process produces geographic mosaics of traits and outcomes in interactions among species. In a From the Cover article in this issue of Molecular Ecology, Hague et al.(2022) provide a clear example, using the well-studied interactions between Pacific newts (Taricha spp.) and their common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis) predators in western North America. Pacific newts harbour tetrodotoxin (TTX), which is highly toxic to vertebrate predators. In coevolutionary hotspots, extreme escalation of toxicity in the newts and resistance to toxicity in the snakes have resulted in snake populations that retain high levels of TTX. In two geographic regions, snakes in these hotspot populations have evolved bright, aposematic colours that may act as warning signals to their own vertebrate predators. The warning signals and toxin-resistance alleles in the snake populations decrease clinally away from the coevolutionary hotpots, shaped by a geographically variable mix of selection imposed by the snakes' prey and by their own predators.