Journal
ECOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 19, Issue 8, Pages 977-986Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ele.12636
Keywords
Coevolution; coexistence; community structure; competition; eco-evolutionary dynamics; Lotka-Volterra dynamics; quantitative genetics
Categories
Funding
- NSF [1148867]
- National Science Foundation - Advancing Theory in Biology program [1038678]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Emerging Frontiers [1038678] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Intraspecific trait variation is widespread in nature, yet its effects on community dynamics are not well understood. Here we explore the consequences of intraspecific trait variation for coexistence in two- and multispecies competitive communities. For two species, the likelihood of coexistence is in general reduced by intraspecific variation, except when the species have almost equal trait means but different trait variances, such that one is a generalist and the other a specialist consumer. In multispecies communities, the only strong effect of non-heritable intraspecific variation is to reduce expected species richness. However, when intraspecific variation is heritable, allowing for the possibility of trait evolution, communities are much more resilient against environmental disturbance and exhibit far more predictable trait patterns. Our results are robust to varying model parameters and relaxing model assumptions.
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