Attracting pollinators vs escaping herbivores: eco-evolutionary dynamics of plants confronted with an ecological trade-off

• Published in: bioRxiv
• Main Authors: Youssef Yacine, Loeuille, Nicolas
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 13.01.2024; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Edition: 1.5
• Subjects: Coexistence; Ecology; Evolution; Herbivores; Herbivory; Phenotypes; Plant communities; Plant reproduction; Pollination; Pollinators; herbivory; adaptive dynamics; trait matching; diversification; pollination; plant evolution
• ISSN: 2692-8205; 2692-8205
• DOI: 10.1101/2021.12.02.470900

Many plant traits are subject to an ecological trade-off between attracting pollinators and escaping herbivores. The interplay of both plant-animal interaction types determines their evolution. As most studies focus on either pollination or herbivory, how they jointly affect the eco-evolutionary dynamics of plant-animal communities is often left unknown. Within a plant-pollinator-herbivore community where interaction strengths depend on trait matching, we consider the evolution of a plant trait involved in both plant-animal interactions. Using adaptive dynamics, we uncover when stabilizing, runaway (i.e. directional) or disruptive selection emerges and its consequences for multispecies coexistence. We find that strong pollination relative to herbivory favors stabilizing selection and coexistence. Strong herbivory relative to pollination fosters runaway selection and threatens coexistence. Importantly, given balanced interactions, joint effects may lead to disruptive selection, allowing the emergence of plant dimorphism. The strength of the ecological trade-off largely explains the occurrence of these contrasting eco-evolutionary dynamics. In particular, plant diversification requires strong trade-offs, with the strongest trade-offs allowing long-term polymorphism. We discuss how our results relate to various empirical cases where the interplay of pollination and herbivory maintains plant polymorphism. Beyond maintenance, our work suggests that it might also have fueled the diversification process itself.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Footnotes* (1) clarification of how the ecological trade-off is defined and emerges within our framework, and (2) improved presentation of the biological interpretation of model assumptions, discussion of their implications as well as limitations.* https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10497716