Evolution of Local Facilitation in Arid Ecosystems

In harsh environments, sessile organisms can make their habitat more hospitable by buffering environmental stress or increasing resource availability. Although the ecological significance of such local facilitation is widely established, the evolutionary aspects have been seldom investigated. Yet ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2008-07, Vol.172 (1), p.E1-E17
Main Authors: Kéfi, Sonia, Baalen, Minus van, Rietkerk, Max, Loreau, Michel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biological adaptation
Biological altruism
Biological Evolution
Climate
Demography
Ecological balance
Ecosystem
Ecosystem dynamics
Ecosystem models
Ecosystems
Environmental Sciences
Evolution
E‐Article
Models, Biological
Plants - metabolism
Population characteristics
Seed dispersal
Seeds
Vegetation
Water
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Summary:In harsh environments, sessile organisms can make their habitat more hospitable by buffering environmental stress or increasing resource availability. Although the ecological significance of such local facilitation is widely established, the evolutionary aspects have been seldom investigated. Yet addressing the evolutionary aspects of local facilitation is important because theoretical studies show that systems with such positive interactions can exhibit alternative stable states and that such systems may suddenly become extinct when they evolve (evolutionary suicide). Arid ecosystems currently experience strong changes in climate and human pressures, but little is known about the effects of these changes on the selective pressures exerted on the vegetation. Here, we focus on the evolution of local facilitation in arid ecosystems, using a lattice‐structured model explicitly considering local interactions among plants. We found that the evolution of local facilitation depends on the seed dispersal strategy. In systems characterized by short‐distance seed dispersal, adaptation to a more stressful environment leads to high local facilitation, allowing the population to escape extinction. In contrast, systems characterized by long‐distance seed dispersal become extinct under increased stress even when allowed to adapt. In this case, adaptation in response to climate change and human pressures could give the final push to the desertification of arid ecosystems.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/588066