Abstract
Standing genetic variation and the historical environment in which that variation arises (evolutionary history) are both potentially significant determinants of a population's capacity for evolutionary response to a changing environment. Using the open-ended digital evolution software Avida, we evaluated the relative importance of these two factors in influencing evolutionary trajectories in the face of sudden environmental change. We examined how historical exposure to predation pressures, different levels of genetic variation, and combinations of the two, affected the evolvability of anti-predator strategies and competitive abilities in the presence or absence of threats from new, invasive predator populations. We show that while standing genetic variation plays some role in determining evolutionary responses, evolutionary history has the greater influence on a population's capacity to evolve anti-predator traits, i.e. traits effective against novel predators. This adaptability likely reflects the relative ease of repurposing existing, relevant genes and traits, and the broader potential value of the generation and maintenance of adaptively flexible traits in evolving populations.
Highlights
The diversity and complexity of any biological system reflects past evolutionary responses to environmental conditions
Prey that evolved with predator evolutionary history (EH) were, in general, stronger competitors than those that evolved with no predator EH
While there was no main effect of standing genetic variation (SGV) on mean final relative abundances (SGV effect: Table S3), higher SGV seems to have conferred some benefit to no predator EH populations (Figure 2; SGV6EH effect: Table S3)
Summary
The diversity and complexity of any biological system reflects past evolutionary responses to environmental conditions Underlying those responses are a number of extrinsic and intrinsic factors influencing populations’ capacities to evolve responses through the generation or utilization of genetic variation [1,2]. Among the potential factors involved, standing genetic variation (SGV) and evolutionary history (EH) are likely to be significant determinants of adaptability to novel environments [5]. Understanding how these critical factors either promote or constrain population evolutionary potential provides insight into the realized pathways that led to historical evolutionary outcomes, as well as those that will shape future populations. As selection can act only on available variation, SGV provides a potential means for more rapid adaptive evolution ([7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]; reviewed in [21]) compared with the de novo mutations [5,22], if the environment changes (e.g. if a new predator or competitor invades the system, or if abiotic conditions change)
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