Life-history evolution in response to changes in metapopulation structure in an arthropod herbivore

Annelies de Roissart (1) , Nicky Wybouw (2, 3) , D Renault (4) , Thomas van Leeuwen (3, 1) , Dries Bonte (1)

1 UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University
2 Department of Crop Protection
3 IBED - Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics
4 ECOBIO - Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes]

The persistence and dynamics of populations largely depend on the way they are configured and integrated into space and the ensuing eco-evolutionary dynamics. * We manipulated spatial and temporal variation in patch size in replicated experimental metapopulations of the herbivore mite Tetranychus urticae and followed evolutionary dynamics over approximately 30 generations. * A significant divergence in life-history traits, physiological endpoints and gene expression was recorded in the spatially and spatiotemporally variable metapopulation, but also a remarkable convergence relative to the stable reference metapopulation in traits related to size and fecundity and in its transcriptional regulation. * The observed evolutionary dynamics are tightly linked to demographic changes, more specifically frequent episodes of resource shortage that increased the reproductive performance of mites on tomato, a challenging host plant. This points towards a general, adaptive stress response in stable spatial variable and spatiotemporal variable metapopulations that pre-adapts a herbivore arthropod to novel environmental stressors

Keywords: evolutionary rescue; metapopulation-level selection; stochasticity; Stress; Tetranychus urticae

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Annelies de Roissart, Nicky Wybouw, D Renault, Thomas van Leeuwen, Dries Bonte. Life-history evolution in response to changes in metapopulation structure in an arthropod herbivore. Functional Ecology, 2016, 30 (8), pp.1408-1417. ⟨10.1111/1365-2435.12612⟩. ⟨hal-01255831⟩