Eco-evolutionary dynamics in phytoplankton communities: can changes in metabolic rates help us understand ecological outcomes?
Abstract: Species can evolve rapidly in response to competition but forecasting how multiple interacting species evolve remains difficult. A challenge is identifying which traits are most likely to evolve and their consequences for community properties – ideally, we want to find general traits that apply across taxa and ecological systems. On this respect, metabolic rates could provide a valuable tool to study eco-evolutionary dynamics because they inform on how much energy an organism consumes or has available to grow and compete. I will present recent work that uses experimental evolution of marine phytoplankton to explore this idea. Specifically, we tracked the evolutionary trajectory of species alone or together in a community for 4.5 months; our goal was to quantify how metabolic rates evolve in response to competition and test if these changes explain population and community outcomes. Finally, I will discuss how these evolutionary effects of competition relate to metabolic responses observed in ecological timescales.
Homepage Dr Giulia Ghedini
IGB Colloquia open up!
IGB strives to facilitate and accelerate the exchange of knowledge and ideas within and also outside of IGB. One element contributing to inter- and transdisciplinary exchange, and more (scientific) cooperation and innovation, is to open up IGB Colloquia to an interested external audience from science (other research institutes, universities, laboratories) as well as practice (i.e. conservationists, freshwater/land-use managers, authorities, associations). If you would like to join this IGB Colloquium as a guest, we ask you to register until the morning of the colloquium 10 o'clock the latest. After we have checked your registration, you will receive the participation link.