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OOS-45:
Evolution in metacommunities: A new framework for species
coexistence
Thursday,
August 11, 8 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Rooms 516a and 516b, Level 5, Palais
des congrès de Montréal
Organizers:
Mark Urban (mark.urban@yale.edu),
Mathew Leibold
Description:
The
metacommunity represents a compelling framework for understanding joint effects
of ecological interactions and dispersal on species coexistence at local and
regional scales. At the same time, adaptive or maladaptive responses to local
interspecific interactions can be shaped by the same attributes of
metacommunities that determine ecological patterns of species coexistence.
Growing evidence for the localized and contemporary evolution of species
interactions highlights an exciting potential for novel insights by integrating
community genetics and metacommunity perspectives. To facilitate this
unification, we define a (co)evolving metacommunity as a set of communities
linked by dispersal in which coexistence is determined by the ability of
populations to (co)adapt to local interspecific interactions. The intent of this
session will be to review theoretical and empirical evidence for evolving and
coevolving metacommunities and to identify future research needs of this rapidly
evolving perspective.
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