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Most studies of evolutionary dynamics concern single species or perhaps pairs of interacting species. However, virtually all organisms live in diverse systems of many co-occurring species, whose interactions are likely to profoundly influence the evolution of component species. We use mathematical models to understand how species interactions influence evolutionary dynamics of diverse communities, and test those ideas experimentally in diverse communities of bacteria. New projects will investigate the same questions in genomic time-series for wild communities of insects and fungi sampled from historical collections.
A new project in 2021 is perturbing the environment of tree-holes in Wytham Woods and using metagenomics and time-shift assays to investigate evolutionary and coevolutionary responses of the bacterial community
Four species culture separately in laboratory microcosms evolved in a way that led to competitive interactions among them (blue). The same species cultured together in a community evolved facilitative interactions (red). This led to an increase in the overall productivity of the whole community. (Lawrence et al 2012)
A model of a community of 8 species growing on two input resources via a metabolic pathway (left panel), similar to the gut microbiome. The model predicts evolutionary dynamics (in this case, divergence in resource use among species - right panel) and functioning of the whole ecosystem (Barraclough 2019b)
References
Scheuerl, T., Hopkins, M., Nowell, R. W., Rivett, D. W., Barraclough, T. G., and Bell, T. 2020. Bacterial adaptation is constrained in complex communities. Nature Communications 11:1-8.
Barraclough, T. G. 2019a. The Evolutionary Biology of Species. Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Chapters 7, 8, 9.
Barraclough, T. G. 2019b. Species matter for predicting the functioning of evolving microbial communities – an eco-evolutionary model. PLoS ONE 14): e0218692
Lawrence, D., Bell, T., Barraclough, T.G. 2016. The effect of immigration on the adaptation of microbial communities to warming. American Naturalist. 187:236-248
Barraclough, T.G. 2015. How do species interactions affect evolutionary dynamics across whole communities? Ann. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 46:25–48
Fiegna, F., Moreno-Letelier, A., Bell, T., Barraclough, T.G. 2015. Evolution of species interactions determines microbial community functioning in new environments. ISME J. 9: 1235-1245
Lawrence D, Fiegna F, Behrends V, Bundy JG, Phillimore AB, Bell T, Barraclough TG. 2012. Species interactions alter evolutionary responses to a novel environment. PLoS Biol 10:e1001330
Perron GG, Lee AE, Wang Y, Huang WE, Barraclough TG. 2012. Bacterial recombination promotes the evolution of multi-drug-resistance in functionally diverse populations. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 279:1477-1484
de Mazancourt, C., Johnson E., and Barraclough, T.G. 2008. Biodiversity inhibits species’ evolutionary responses to changing environments. Ecology Letters. 11: 380-388
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