SEMINAR: OI Seminar Series - Prof Luc De Meester

Prof Luc De Meester from The Catholic University of Leuven, Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Title: Evolving metacommunities: a race between adaptation and immigration. Abstract: Ecological and evolutionary processes have largely been studied separately, yet there is growing evidence that ecological and evolutionary dynamics can occur at the same time scale and can strongly interact. Ignoring these interactions may distort our view of population, community and ecosystem responses to environmental change, including human impact. The evolving metacommunities framework tries to disentangle the relative importance of species and genotype sorting in determining community trait responses to environmental gradients locally and regionally. A key aspect that determines the outcome of eco-evolutionary interactions is the rate of local species sorting and genetic adaptation versus immigration rates. I will illustrate these concepts amongst others with our own research, using the water flea and its responses to natural and anthropogenic stressors as main model system. I will discuss evolution-mediated priority effects and responses to climate change, and I will try to sketch an integrated approach that integrates widely different approaches ranging from field based community research to eco- and paleogenomics.