Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Genetic Variation Determines Which Feedbacks Drive And Alter Predator–Prey Eco-Evolutionary Cycles, Michael H. Cortez

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Evolution can alter the ecological dynamics of communities, but the effects depend on the magnitudes of standing genetic variation in the evolving species. Using an eco‐coevolutionary predator–prey model, I identify how the magnitudes of prey and predator standing genetic variation determine when ecological, evolutionary, and eco‐evolutionary feedbacks influence system stability and the phase lags in predator–prey cycles. Here, feedbacks are defined by subsystems, i.e., the dynamics of a subset of the components of the whole system when the other components are held fixed; ecological (evolutionary) feedbacks involve the direct and indirect effects between population densities (species traits) and eco‐evolutionary feedbacks …