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Published on: August 18, 2023
Evolution of life-history traits collapses competitive coexistence
Akihiko Mougi1, Kinya Nishimura
1Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate 041-8611, Japan. mougi@fish.hokudai.ac.jp
Abstract:
Trade-offs between competitive ability and the other life-history traits are considered to be a major mechanism of competitive coexistence. Many theoretical studies have demonstrated the robustness of such a coexistence mechanism ecologically; however, it is unknown whether the coexistence is robust evolutionarily. Here, we report that evolution of life-history traits not directly related to competition, such as longevity, and predator avoidance, easily collapses competitive coexistence in several competition systems: spatially structured, and predator-mediated two-species competition systems. In addition, we found that a superior competitor can be excluded by an inferior one by common mechanisms among the models. Our results suggest that ecological competitive coexistence due to a life-history trait trade-off balance may not be balanced on an evolutionary timescale, that is, it may be evolutionarily fragile.
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