Coevolution between two antagonistic species follow the so-called `Red Queen dynamics' when reciprocal selection results in an endless series of adaptation by one species and counter-adaptation by the other. Red Queen dynamics are `genetically-driven' when selective sweeps involving new beneficial mutations result in perpetual oscillations of the coevolving traits on the slow evolutionary timescale. Mathematical models have shown that a prey and a predator can coevolve along a genetically-driven Red Queen cycle. We found that embedding the prey-predator interaction into a three-species food chain that includes a coevolving superpredator often turns the genetically-driven Red Queen cycle into chaos. A key condition is that the prey evolves fast enough. Red Queen chaos implies that the direction and strength of selection are intrinsically unpredictable beyond a short evolutionary time, with greatest evolutionary unpredictability in the superpredator. We hypothesize that genetically-driven Red Queen chaos could explain why many natural populations are poised at the edge of ecological chaos. Over space, genetically-driven chaos is expected to cause the evolutionary divergence of local populations, even under homogenizing environmental fluctuations, and thus to promote genetic diversity among ecological communities over long evolutionary time.
Chaotic Red Queen coevolution in three-species food chains
DERCOLE, FABIO;RINALDI, SERGIO
2010-01-01
Abstract
Coevolution between two antagonistic species follow the so-called `Red Queen dynamics' when reciprocal selection results in an endless series of adaptation by one species and counter-adaptation by the other. Red Queen dynamics are `genetically-driven' when selective sweeps involving new beneficial mutations result in perpetual oscillations of the coevolving traits on the slow evolutionary timescale. Mathematical models have shown that a prey and a predator can coevolve along a genetically-driven Red Queen cycle. We found that embedding the prey-predator interaction into a three-species food chain that includes a coevolving superpredator often turns the genetically-driven Red Queen cycle into chaos. A key condition is that the prey evolves fast enough. Red Queen chaos implies that the direction and strength of selection are intrinsically unpredictable beyond a short evolutionary time, with greatest evolutionary unpredictability in the superpredator. We hypothesize that genetically-driven Red Queen chaos could explain why many natural populations are poised at the edge of ecological chaos. Over space, genetically-driven chaos is expected to cause the evolutionary divergence of local populations, even under homogenizing environmental fluctuations, and thus to promote genetic diversity among ecological communities over long evolutionary time.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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