millennial‐scale chronicle of evolutionary responses to cultural eutrophication in Daphnia

• Published in: Ecology letters Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 360 - 368
• Main Authors: Frisch, Dagmar, Morton, Philip K, Chowdhury, Priyanka Roy, Culver, Billy W, Colbourne, John K, Weider, Lawrence J, Jeyasingh, Punidan D, Post, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2014; Blackwell
• Subjects: agricultural watersheds; analysis; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Anthropogenic factors; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Catchment areas; chemistry; Daphnia; Daphnia - genetics; Daphnia - growth & development; Daphnia pulicaria; DNA; ecology; eggs; Environment; Environmental change; Environmental changes; Eutrophication; Evolutionary biology; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Frequency; General aspects; Genetic structure; genetics; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genetics, Population; Genotype; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Geologic Sediments; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; growth & development; Herbivores; Human Activities; Humans; Insects; Lakes; Linear Models; Metazoa; Microsatellite Repeats; Microsatellite Repeats - genetics; Minnesota; Natural populations; nutritional physiology; Phenotype; phosphorus; Phosphorus - analysis; population genetic structure; Population genetics; Population genetics, reproduction patterns; resurrection ecology; sediments; Minnesota; USA, Minnesota; Nutrition; Cladocera; Phosphorus; Population structure; Environmental change; Ecology; Population genetics; Eutrophication; Crustacea; population genetic structure; Arthropoda; Daphnia; Physiology; Invertebrata; Branchiopoda; nutritional physiology; resurrection ecology; phosphorus
• ISSN: 1461-023X; 1461-0248; 1461-0248
• DOI: 10.1111/ele.12237

For an accurate assessment of the anthropogenic impacts on evolutionary change in natural populations, we need long‐term environmental, genetic and phenotypic data that predate human disturbances. Analysis of c. 1600 years of history chronicled in the sediments of South Center Lake, Minnesota, USA, revealed major environmental changes beginning c. 120 years ago coinciding with the initiation of industrialised agriculture in the catchment area. Population genetic structure, analysed using DNA from dormant eggs of the keystone aquatic herbivore, Daphnia pulicaria, suggested no change for c. 1500 years prior to striking shifts associated with anthropogenic environmental alterations. Furthermore, phenotypic assays on the oldest resurrected metazoan genotypes (potentially as old as c. 700 years) indicate significant shifts in phosphorus utilisation rates compared to younger genotypes. Younger genotypes show steeper reaction norms with high growth under high phosphorus (P), and low growth under low P, while ‘ancient’ genotypes show flat reaction norms, yet higher growth efficiency under low P. Using this resurrection ecology approach, environmental, genetic and phenotypic data spanning pre‐ and post‐industrialised agricultural eras clearly reveal the evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic environmental change.