terHorst, C. P., P. C. Zee, K. D. Heath, T. E. Miller, A. I. Pastore, S. Patel, S. J. Schreiber, M. J. Wade, and M. R. Walsh. 2018. Evolution in a community context. American Naturalist 191:368-380. PDF
Abstract: Species that coexist in diverse natural communities interact
in complex ways that alter each other’s abundances and affect selection
on each other’s traits. Consequently, predicting trait evolution
in natural communities may require understanding ecological and
evolutionary dynamics involving a number of species. In August 2016,
the American Society of Naturalists sponsored a symposium to explore
evolution in a community context, focusing on microevolutionary processes.
Here we provide an introduction to our perspectives on this topic
by defining the context and describing some examples of when and how
microevolutionary responses to multiple species may differ from evolution
in isolation or in two-species communities. We find that indirect
ecological and evolutionary effects can result in non-additive selection
and evolution that cannot be predicted from pairwise interactions. Genetic
correlations of ecological traits in one species can alter trait evolution
and adaptation as well as the abundances of other species. In general,
evolution in multispecies communities can change ecological interactions,
which then feed back to future evolutionary changes in ways that
depend on these indirect effects. We suggest avenues for future research
in this field, including determining the circumstances under which pairwise
evolution does not adequately describe evolutionary trajectories.
Keywords: coevolution, diffuse selection, indirect effects, natural selection,
species interactions.
