ECO-EVOLUTIONARY RESILIENCE AT THE BASE OF FOOD WEBS

Ecological links between intraspecific diversity in populations and species diversity in communities have potential to influence adaptation and community assembly in habitats undergoing rapid environmental change as a result of human disturbance. We are also interested in the role of (mal)adaptation as adaptive intraspecific insurance for populations facing environmental uncertainty and human disturbance. Our studies include some of the first empirical papers to test theoretical predictions about the impact of landscape context and migration on local (mal)adaptive trait divergence in metapopulations. As part of a larger collaboration, we also address applied implications of maladaptation for species conservation strategies.

We employ field and laboratory experiments to address ecological and evolutionary rescue in zooplankton as adaptive responses to anthropogenic stressors such as lake acidification recovery, metal mining, humic stress linked with climate change, and road salt. The research of ongoing PhD students employs whole-genome sequencing to elucidate signatures of selection on genomes of freshwater copepods and gastropods linked with exotic invasion, acidification, and climate change.

For related projects, see Mathilde Salamon , Louis Astorg and Simon Thibodeau