Intraspecific reaction norm variation directs eco-evolutionary responses
to environmental change
Abstract
As environmental change accelerates globally, understanding concurrent
organismal, species, and community responses is increasingly vital.
Here, we examine these coordinated responses by incorporating
genotype-specific reaction norms into an eco-evolutionary predator-prey
model, allowing us to track simultaneous phenotypic, ecological, and
evolutionary responses to environmental change within ecological
communities. We evaluate how different sources of phenotypic variation
in thermal reaction norms influence eco-evolutionary outcomes across
temperatures. Additive (E+G) and interactive (G×E) genetic and
environmental effects on thermal reaction norms create distinct pathways
through eco-evolutionary landscapes, yielding fundamentally different
ecological and evolutionary dynamics across temperatures. Our findings
underscore how complex eco-evolutionary responses to environmental
change ultimately emerge from variation in reaction norms at the
genotypic level, offering new mechanistic insight into adaptation, the
maintenance of variation, and ecosystem stability that may be crucial
for predicting and managing future eco-evolutionary impacts of rapid
environmental change.