The Influence of Evolution on Population Spread through Patchy Landscapes.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Climate Change Biology

Background:

• Understanding species' spread velocity is crucial for predicting biological invasions and native range shifts under climate change.
• Landscape heterogeneity and individual limitations are known ecological factors, but their influence on evolutionary dynamics of spread is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how evolutionary processes, specifically selection on demographic and competitive traits, affect the spread velocity of annual plant populations in linear, patchy landscapes.
• To evaluate the impact of landscape heterogeneity and the finite nature of individuals on the evolutionary dynamics driving spatial advance.

Main Methods:

• Employed adaptive dynamics and simulation approaches to model annual plant populations spreading through linear landscapes.
• Analyzed the direction of selection on traits like fecundity and competitive tolerance.
• Incorporated simulations with finite individuals to explore spatial priority effects.

Main Results:

• In landscapes with large habitat gaps, selection favored competitively tolerant individuals at the invasion front, even with reduced fecundity when rare.
• Simulations with finite individuals demonstrated a spatial priority effect, where initial strategies determined long-term evolutionary outcomes.
• Evolutionary changes in traits could increase spread velocity, but this effect was often insignificant in patchy landscapes.

Conclusions:

• Landscape structure significantly influences the evolutionary trajectories of spreading populations.
• Competitive tolerance can be favored over fecundity in heterogeneous environments, altering invasion dynamics.
• The interplay between ecological factors, evolutionary processes, and landscape heterogeneity is key to predicting species' range shifts.