Project Details
Projekt
Indirect response to external drivers through trait variation in predator-prey systems
Applicant
Professor Dr. Lutz Becks
Subject Area
Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
Term
from 2014 to 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 257177543
Eco-evolutionary dynamics are important for ecological and evolutionary processes as they can determine coexistence of species and their biomass as well as local adaptation, intraspecific trait diversity and polymorphism. Little is known, however, when and how the eco-evolutionary feedback between population and trait dynamics contributes to buffering external perturbations such as rapid environmental changes. Combining modelling and experiments, we aim developing and testing general theory on how the interplay of ecological and trait dynamics allow systems to buffer external perturbations We will study the effects of external perturbations on a predator of a predator-prey system with and without the possibility for an eco-evolutionary feedback. Specifically, we will test the prediction that increased predator mortality and decreased predator growth rates due to an environmental change can be buffered indirectly through adaptations in the prey population, leading to indirect evolutionary rescue and facilitation of the predator. We will further quantify the extent and the speed of the indirect rescue and facilitation as a function of the trade-offs between anti-predatory defence and competitiveness within the prey population. Overall, this work will contribute to a mechanistic understanding of the role of the feedback between trait and systems dynamics in changing environments and will help predicting potential responses of communities to these changes.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
