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Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
Published on: July 30, 2019
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Eco-evolutionary dynamics driven by fishing: From single species models to dynamic evolution within complex food webs
Tommi Perälä1, Anna Kuparinen1
1Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Finland.
Evolutionary Applications
|December 9, 2020
Summary
Contemporary evolution in aquatic ecosystems is driven by ecological interactions and fishing. This study models how predator evolution impacts food webs, offering insights into eco-evolutionary dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Fisheries Science
- Ecosystem Dynamics
Background:
- Contemporary evolution is increasingly studied in natural populations, particularly in aquatic systems with abundant long-term data on fish life-history traits.
- Intensive harvesting in marine and freshwater environments has demonstrably influenced fish populations, highlighting the need for eco-evolutionary research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the progression of eco-evolutionary modeling from single-species to multispecies approaches.
- To develop and implement an advanced eco-evolutionary modeling framework (eco-evolutionary ATNE) incorporating predator life-history evolution within complex food webs.
- To simulate and analyze the impacts of natural selection and fishing on predator evolution and subsequent trophic cascades.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of single-species versus multispecies modeling in eco-evolutionary dynamics.
- Development of an allometric trophic network (ATN) framework integrated with life-history trait evolution for a top predator.
- Application and illustration of the eco-evolutionary ATNE model using a well-studied lake food web.
Main Results:
- Simulations demonstrated that both natural selection from feeding interactions and size-selective fishing induce evolutionary changes in the top predator.
- These predator evolutionary changes were shown to feedback onto prey species.
- The effects cascaded down through the food web, impacting lower trophic levels.
Conclusions:
- The developed eco-evolutionary ATNE framework effectively simulates complex interactions between evolution and ecosystem dynamics.
- Eco-evolutionary processes, driven by predation and fishing, significantly alter food web structure and function.
- Future research should integrate genomic data to enhance the predictive power of eco-evolutionary models for conservation and management.
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