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Geo-evolutionary feedbacks: integrating rapid evolution and landscape change
Xiaoli Dong1, Maya F Stokes2, Andrew P Hendry3
1Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|June 11, 2024
Summary
This study introduces geo-evolutionary feedbacks, exploring how landscape changes and organism traits interact. Understanding these feedbacks is crucial for predicting landscape adaptation to climate change.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Geomorphology
Background:
- Organisms influence their environments, creating feedback loops with landscape evolution.
- These geo-evolutionary feedbacks operate on contemporary timescales relevant to anthropogenic change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a conceptual framework for geo-evolutionary feedbacks.
- To emphasize the interplay between landscape change and trait evolution in organisms.
- To understand feedbacks at both patch and landscape scales.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual framework development.
- Analysis of trait evolution and its impact on organism populations and distributions.
- Consideration of geomorphic engineering traits and spatial self-organization.
Main Results:
- Geo-evolutionary feedbacks can be direct (via geomorphic traits) or indirect (via population dynamics).
- Organisms modifying local environments drive patch-scale feedbacks.
- Spatial self-organization drives landscape-scale feedbacks.
Conclusions:
- Geo-evolutionary feedbacks are prevalent and operate on relevant timescales.
- Understanding these feedbacks is essential for predicting landscape adaptive capacity.
- This framework aids in predicting landscape change under environmental pressures.
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