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Effects of predation on real-time host-parasite coevolutionary dynamics
Ville-Petri Friman1, Angus Buckling
1Department of Zoology, The Tinbergen Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. vifriman@gmail.com
Ecology Letters
|September 28, 2012
Summary
In complex environments, bacteria like Pseudomonas fluorescens develop specialized defenses against viruses and predators due to conflicting selection pressures. This diversification allows pairwise coevolution to persist despite community complexity.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Microbial Ecology
Background:
- Community complexity theoretically influences coevolutionary dynamics based on generalized vs. specialized adaptations.
- Understanding how species adapt to multiple interacting species is crucial for predicting coevolutionary trajectories.
Discussion:
- Pseudomonas fluorescens diversified into defense specialists when coevolved with a virus and a predatory protist.
- Fitness trade-offs between defenses against the virus and protist drove this specialization.
- The arms race dynamic of bacteria-virus coevolution was disrupted by the protist, likely due to increased costs of resistance.
Key Insights:
- Conflicting selection pressures in complex communities can lead to evolutionary diversification of defense strategies.
- Pairwise coevolution can persist even in multi-species interactions when trade-offs promote specialization.
- Specialized defenses allow species to maintain coevolutionary dynamics despite the presence of multiple antagonists.
Outlook:
- Investigating the genetic basis of specialized defenses in microbial communities.
- Exploring the ecological and evolutionary consequences of diversified defense strategies in complex systems.
- Examining how different types of antagonists (e.g., viruses, protists, other bacteria) shape coevolutionary outcomes.
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