CAREER: A role for local adaptation in shaping species coexistence mechanisms

University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

Investigators

Abstract

A big question in ecology is: "How do species that need the same resources avoid driving each other to extinction?" The answer to that question will shed light on why the world is home to so many different species and how we might prevent their extinction. This project explores the question in a relatively new way: through the lens of evolution. The research makes use of an insect model study system - damselflies, which are colorful insect predators similar to dragonflies. Rather than assuming that a species of damselfly is the same no matter what lake it is from, the researcher will attempt to show that damselflies from different lakes are different in how they are built and what they need, and that those differences have big effects on other species of damselflies from the same lakes. The project will also provide meaningful research and teaching opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students. The researcher will conduct a formal assessment of his mentoring activities to help understand how gaps between scientists and educators are unintentionally created and what we can do to bridge those gaps. Spatially replicated experiments will assess variation among damselfly communities in fitness differences between competing species, which could cause competitive exclusion, and the stabilizing niche differences that prevent exclusion and favor coexistence. Reciprocal transplant experiments will determine whether and how local adaptation affects fitness differences and/or stabilizing effects. Additional experiments using a unique biogeographic pattern will establish whether coexistence evolves as a consequence of competitors co-evolving to reduce competition, or whether competitors have adapted independently to ecological niches where they co-occur. Results from the experimental studies will be combined with measures of environmental factors to determine which features of the environment shape fitness differences and stabilization. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.