Evolutionary ecology of dispersal in biodiverse spatially structured systems: what is old and what is new?

Dispersal is a well-recognized driver of ecological and evolutionary dynamics, and simultaneously an evolving trait. Dispersal evolution has traditionally been studied in single-species metapopulations so that it remains unclear how dispersal evolves in metacommunities and metafoodwebs, which are characterized by a multitude of species interactions. Since most natural systems are both species-rich and spatially structured, this knowledge gap should be bridged.

Population size shapes trade-off dilution and adaptation to a marginal niche unconstrained by sympatric habitual conditions.

How does niche expansion occur when the habitual (high-productivity) and marginal (low-productivity) niches are simultaneously available? Without spatial structuring, such conditions should impose fitness maintenance in the former while adapting to the latter. Hence, adaptation to a given marginal niche should be influenced by the identity of the simultaneously available habitual niche. This hypothesis remains untested.

Evolution of thermal performance curves: A meta-analysis of selection experiments.

Temperatures are increasing due to global changes, putting biodiversity at risk. Organisms are faced with a limited set of options to cope with this situation: adapt, disperse or die. We here focus on the first possibility, more specifically, on evolutionary adaptations to temperature.

Interplay of population size and environmental fluctuations: A new explanation for fitness cost rarity in asexuals.

Theoretical models of ecological specialisation commonly assume that adaptation to one environment leads to fitness reductions (costs) in others. However, experiments often fail to detect such costs. We addressed this conundrum using experimental evolution with Escherichia coli in several constant and fluctuating environments at multiple population sizes.

Larger bacterial populations evolve heavier fitness trade-offs and undergo greater ecological specialization.

Evolutionary studies over the last several decades have invoked fitness trade-offs to explain why species prefer some environments to others. However, the effects of population size on trade-offs and ecological specialization remain largely unknown. To complicate matters, trade-offs themselves have been visualized in multiple ways in the literature.