Predator-induced behaviour shifts and natural selection in field-experimental lizard populations

Jonathan B. Losos (), Thomas W. Schoener and David A. Spiller
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Jonathan B. Losos: Washington University
Thomas W. Schoener: University of California
David A. Spiller: University of California

Nature, 2004, vol. 432, issue 7016, 505-508

Abstract: Abstract The role of behaviour in evolutionary change has long been debated. On the one hand, behavioural changes may expose individuals to new selective pressures by altering the way that organisms interact with the environment, thus driving evolutionary divergence1,2,3. Alternatively, behaviour can act to retard evolutionary change4,5,6: by altering behavioural patterns in the face of new environmental conditions, organisms can minimize exposure to new selective pressures. This constraining influence of behaviour has been put forward as an explanation for evolutionary stasis within lineages4,7,8,9 and niche conservatism within clades10,11. Nonetheless, the hypothesis that behavioural change prevents natural selection from operating in new environments has never been experimentally tested. We conducted a controlled and replicated experimental study of selection in entirely natural populations; we demonstrate that lizards alter their habitat use in the presence of an introduced predator, but that these behavioural shifts do not prevent patterns of natural selection from changing in experimental populations.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature03039

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