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Evolution of a predator-induced, nonlinear reaction norm.

  • Carter MJ Centro Nacional del Medio Ambiente, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Larrain 9975, La Reina, Santiago, Chile.
  • Lind MI Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala 75236, Sweden.
  • Dennis SR Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • Hentley W Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
  • Beckerman AP Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK a.beckerman@sheffield.ac.uk.
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  • 2017-08-25
Published in:
  • Proceedings. Biological sciences. - 2017
Daphnia pulex
evolution
morphological defence
predator-induced plasticity
reaction norm
Animals
Daphnia
Ecosystem
Fishes
Food Chain
Phenotype
Predatory Behavior
English Inducible, anti-predator traits are a classic example of phenotypic plasticity. Their evolutionary dynamics depend on their genetic basis, the historical pattern of predation risk that populations have experienced and current selection gradients. When populations experience predators with contrasting hunting strategies and size preferences, theory suggests contrasting micro-evolutionary responses to selection. Daphnia pulex is an ideal species to explore the micro-evolutionary response of anti-predator traits because they face heterogeneous predation regimes, sometimes experiencing only invertebrate midge predators and other times experiencing vertebrate fish and invertebrate midge predators. We explored plausible patterns of adaptive evolution of a predator-induced morphological reaction norm. We combined estimates of selection gradients that characterize the various habitats that D. pulex experiences with detail on the quantitative genetic architecture of inducible morphological defences. Our data reveal a fine scale description of daphnid defensive reaction norms, and a strong covariance between the sensitivity to cues and the maximum response to cues. By analysing the response of the reaction norm to plausible, predator-specific selection gradients, we show how in the context of this covariance, micro-evolution may be more uniform than predicted from size-selective predation theory. Our results show how covariance between the sensitivity to cues and the maximum response to cues for morphological defence can shape the evolutionary trajectory of predator-induced defences in D. pulex.
Language
  • English
Open access status
hybrid
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/96196
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