This project examines the ecological consequences of rapid adaptation to changing environmental conditions. After environmental change, resident species may either go extinct and be replaced by species more suited to the new environment, or resident species might adapt to their new environment. Field observations and manipulative experiments will be combined to isolate conditions that dictate these responses in a community of freshwater zooplankton. The goal of the project is to predict the circumstances under which a group of species can respond to environmental change.
This research has significance for the growing group of researchers who recognize that the future of ecology and evolution lies in the unification of the two fields. It is also central to the study of how species and communities respond to environmental change. Though disturbance is a feature of some natural communities, its occurrence is increasing through human-related activity. This study addresses environmental change via an introduced predator, but by isolating causal factors that explain how a species and communities respond to environmental change, the research can be applied to understanding community response to a variety of environmental changes: invasive species (as participants in the assembly process), habitat destruction, and human-induced climate change are relevant examples.
