Species Coexistence
Rapid Evolution
Using experimental evolution we are testing how the dynamic interplay between species competition and evolution. More specifically, we are trying to understand why rapid evolution in response to competition sometimes promotes and sometimes hinders species coexistence. Using field experiments we can manipulate species composition to quantify competitive interactions and manipulate evolution itself to quantify how feeds back to alter competitive dynamics. Using coexistence theory we can quantify changes in niche differences and competitive-ability differences to predict changes in coexistence. Please our recent collaborative PNAS 2019 paper with Simon Hart and Jonathan Levine for exciting results.
Spirodela polyrhiza & Lemna minor competing and evolving in our field mesocosm experiment.
Phenotypic Plasticity
Phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous in nature in response to both biotic and abiotic conditions and can affect all phenotypic traits. A common assumption is that plasticity can promote the coexistence of competing species. We are challenging this assumption using a combination theory, modeling, and field experiments. Modern coexistence theory suggests that phenotypic change could alter mechanisms that either promote or hinder stable coexistence, however, a tight integration of rapid phenotypic change in coexistence theory remains elusive. In addition, we believe that current empirical evidence for the role of plasticity could benefit from the application of experimental methods which we have begun applying in the laboratory experiments using duckweed and in field experiments using terrestrial plants.
Hypothesized impacts of plasticity on stabilizing niche differences and average fitness differences which dictate the the outcome of competition. Turcotte & Levine (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2016.07.013)
Field experiment manipulating plasticity in a competition experiment.
Testing how the identity of neighbors impacts plasticity and ultimately coexistence.
Relevant publications
Phenotypic plasticity provides an alternative pathway to species coexistence (Nature Ecology & Evolution 2022)
On the Origin of Coexisting Species (Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2020)
Effects of rapid evolution on species coexistence (PNAS 2019)
Critical review of the empirical evidence for the role of plasticity in coexistence framed by modern coexistence theory (TREE 2016)