Rapid Evolution and the Dynamics of Complex Ecological Communities

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Ecological processes and evolution have long been viewed as occurring on radically different time scales, but studies over the last three decades have compellingly shown that evolutionary change often occurs at the same time and pace as ecological dynamics. Species as diverse as algae, annual plants, birds, fishes, insects, and sheep have quickly undergone evolutionary changes when their environments change or when they invade a new habitat. This project will use mathematical and statistical studies of model ecological food webs to understand how the coupling of ecology and evolution affects the temporal dynamics of species and their ability to persist in ever-changing environments, and how loss of genetic variability and the capacity for rapid evolutionary response may affect the robustness and stability of ecological systems. Statistical methods based on techniques for estimating smooth functions will be developed to infer evolutionary dynamics from observational population data such as ongoing monitoring of harvested or threatened species. Becoming somebody's dinner, or the factory for replicating a virus, is very strong natural selection. It is hard to imagine these occurring without immediate evolutionary consequences, but exactly that thinking is embedded in the ecological theory now underpinning environmental and natural resource management. Implications of this research are therefore extremely broad, including resource management, biodiversity conservation, invasive species management, and ecosystem responses to environmental change. Broader impacts also include training graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher, and using established contacts with environmental agencies to promote consideration of evolutionary dynamics in conservation planning and response to changing environments.