Integrating fundamental processes to understand eco-evolutionary community dynamics and patterns

Abstract

1. Recent studies demonstrate that ecological and evolutionary processes can occur over similar temporal and spatial scales and might thus frequently interact. Although concepts such as the evolving metacommunity, diffuse (co)evolution and community genetics integrate multi-species dynamics, most experimental studies usually consider how evolution affects only one focal species. Hence, our understanding of evolution in multi-species communities is still underdeveloped. 2. We highlight key community and evolutionary mechanisms and their interactions to facilitate a broader understanding of evolution in multi-species communities. We propose a framework that explicitly considers interactions between each of the four analogous processes of evolutionary biology (selection, gene flow, genetic drift and mutation) and community ecology (species sorting, dispersal, ecological drift and speciation). 3. Focusing on interactions between processes of evolutionary biology and community ecology enables explorations of the full range of eco-evolutionary dynamics in multi-species communities and guides the design of novel experiments. Furthermore, the proposed framework develops a shared language between evolutionary biologists and community ecologists and indicates new research avenues. 4. Overall, we propose that explicitly incorporating interactions between these evolutionary and community processes to study eco-evolutionary dynamics in multi-species communities will better inform broader questions about the maintenance of diversity and the resilience of diverse communities to disturbances, both natural and manmade.