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Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration

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Adaptive Evolution Can Both Prevent Ecosystem Collapse and Delay Ecosystem Recovery.

P Catalina Chaparro Pedraza, Blake Matthews, Luc de Meester

The American Naturalist

|November 11, 2021

Summary

Ecosystems can shift between clear and turbid states due to environmental changes. Adaptive evolution in plants can initially increase resilience but may hinder recovery after a shift, impacting restoration efforts.

Keywords:

alternative stable states eco-evolutionary feedback ecosystem resilience ecosystem tipping points shallow lakes

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Environmental Science

Background:

Environmental changes can cause abrupt ecosystem state transitions (regime shifts).
Evolutionary responses can influence ecosystem dynamics, but their role in regime shifts is poorly understood.
Shallow lakes are susceptible to clear-water to turbid-water state transitions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how trait evolution of key species affects ecosystem resilience to environmental stress.
To understand the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes in regime shift dynamics.
To assess the impact of adaptation on ecosystem recovery following a transition.

Main Methods:

Utilized shallow lakes as a model ecosystem.
Investigated the trait evolution of macrophytes (aquatic plants).
Analyzed the effects of adaptive evolution on ecosystem resilience and transition thresholds.

Main Results:

Adaptive evolution of macrophytes can enhance ecosystem resilience by raising the threshold for clear-to-turbid water state transitions.
Post-transition adaptation to the turbid state by organisms can impede the recovery of the clear-water state.
The timing of restoration interventions is critical for effectiveness.

Conclusions:

Coupled ecological and evolutionary processes are crucial for understanding and predicting ecosystem regime shifts.
Early restoration intervention is more effective before organisms adapt to the alternative, degraded state.
Findings offer insights into preventing and mitigating ecosystem regime shifts under environmental change.