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Coevolution of competing Callosobruchus species does not stabilize coexistence.

ABSTRACT: Interspecific resource competition is expected to select for divergence in resource use, weakening interspecific relative to intraspecific competition, thus promoting stable coexistence. More broadly, because interspecific competition reduces fitness, any mechanism of interspecific competition should generate selection favoring traits that weaken interspecific competition. However, species also can adapt to competition by increasing their competitive ability, potentially destabilizing coexistence. We reared two species of bean beetles, the specialist Callosobruchus maculatus and the generalist C. chinensis, in allopatry and sympatry on a mixture of adzuki beans and lentils, and assayed mutual invasibility after four, eight, and twelve generations of evolution. Contrary to the expectation that coevolution of competitors will weaken interspecific competition, the rate of mutual invasibility did not differ between sympatry and allopatry. Rather, the invasion rate of C. chinensis, but not C. maculatus, increased with duration of evolution, as C. chinensis adapted to lentils without experiencing reduced adaptation to adzuki beans, and regardless of the presence or absence of C. maculatus. Our results highlight that evolutionary responses to interspecific competition promote stable coexistence only under specific conditions that can be difficult to produce in practice.

SUBMITTER: Hausch SJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574802 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coevolution of competing <i>Callosobruchus</i> species does not stabilize coexistence.

Hausch Stephen J SJ Fox Jeremy W JW Vamosi Steven M SM

Ecology and evolution 20170714 16

Interspecific resource competition is expected to select for divergence in resource use, weakening interspecific relative to intraspecific competition, thus promoting stable coexistence. More broadly, because interspecific competition reduces fitness, any mechanism of interspecific competition should generate selection favoring traits that weaken interspecific competition. However, species also can adapt to competition by increasing their competitive ability, potentially destabilizing coexistenc ...[more]

PMID: 28861255

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Project description:We tested the hypothesis that differences in temperature and desiccation tolerances of eggs of the container-dwelling mosquitoes Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti influence whether invading A. albopictus coexist with or exclude A. aegypti in Florida. In the laboratory, egg mortality through 30 days for A. albopictus was strongly temperature and humidity dependent, with low humidity and high temperature producing greatest mortality. In contrast, mortality through 30 days and through 60 days for A. aegypti was very low and independent of temperature and humidity. Mortality through 90 days for A. aegypti showed significant effects of both temperature and humidity. In the field, the proportion of vases occupied by A. albopictus was significantly lower at four of six sites at the start of the wet season (after a dry period) versus well into the wet season (after containers had held water for weeks). The proportion of vases occupied by A. aegypti was independent of when during the wet season vases were sampled. These results imply that dry periods cause disproportionately greater mortality of A. albopictus eggs compared to A. aegypti eggs. Container occupancy at tire and cemetery sites was significantly related to two principal components derived from longterm average climate data. Occupancy of containers by A. albopictus was greatest at cool sites with little or no dry season, and decreased significantly with increasing mean temperature and increasing number of dry months. In contrast, occupancy of containers by A. aegypti was lowest at cool sites with little or no dry season, and increased significantly with increasing mean temperature and increasing dry season length, and decreased significantly with total precipitation and number of wet months. We suggest that local coexistence of these species is possible because warm, dry climates favor A. aegypti and alleviate effects of competition from A. albopictus via differential mortality of A. albopictus eggs.

Dataset Information

Coevolution of competing Callosobruchus species does not stabilize coexistence.

Publications

Coevolution of competing <i>Callosobruchus</i> species does not stabilize coexistence.

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