Community-wide micro-evolutionary adaptation to anthropogenic stress: context dependency and ecological implications (COMADAPT)

Rapid micro-evolutionary adaptation is increasingly acknowledged as a mechanism that enhances the coping ability of organisms to deal with (human-induced) environmental pressures. Considering rapid evolutionary responses is key to a better understanding of the long-term effects of stressors on natural systems. To date most studies have focused on the ecological implications of microevolutionary adaptation in a single species, while natural systems consist of communities in which populations of multiple species interact. Populations may differ in their adaptative potential, and interactions within communities might influence the evolutionary trajectories of individual populations. Therefore, in this COMADAPT project we explicitly adopt a community-wide perspective. Combining an experimental evolution approach in outdoor mesocosms with laboratory experiments, we aim to quantify the extent to which rapid evolution mediates the response of freshwater zooplankton communities to salinization, a major anthropogenic stressor. Moreover, we aim to investigate how these evolutionary dynamics affect community composition and ecosystem functioning. Unique to our approach is that we examine the evolutionary responses of multiple interacting species simultaneously, within a community context.