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Evolution of bacterial life‐history traits is sensitive to community structure
Author(s) -
Ketola Tarmo,
Mikonranta Lauri,
Mappes Johanna
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.12947
Subject(s) - biology , context (archaeology) , community structure , serratia marcescens , ecology , biomass (ecology) , selection (genetic algorithm) , trophic level , life history theory , evolutionary biology , life history , gene , paleontology , escherichia coli , artificial intelligence , computer science , biochemistry
Very few studies have experimentally assessed the evolutionary effects of species interactions within the same trophic level. Here we show that when Serratia marcescens evolve in multispecies communities, their growth rate exceeds the growth rate of the bacteria that evolved alone, whereas the biomass yield gets lower. In addition to the community effects per se, we found that few species in the communities caused strong effects on S. marcescens evolution. The results indicate that evolutionary responses (of a focal species) are different in communities, compared to species evolving alone. Moreover, selection can lead to very different outcomes depending on the community structure. Such context dependencies cast doubt on our ability to predict the course of evolution in the wild, where species often inhabit very different kinds of communities.