Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Proc Biol Sci. 2018 Nov 7;285(1890):20181717. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1717.
Intraspecific variation can have important consequences for the structure and function of ecological communities, and serves to link community ecology to evolutionary processes. Differences between the sexes are an overwhelmingly common form of intraspecific variation, but its community-level consequences have never been experimentally investigated. Here, we manipulate the sex ratio of a sexually dimorphic predacious newt in aquatic mesocosms, then track their impact on prey communities. Female and male newts preferentially forage in the benthic and pelagic zones, respectively, causing corresponding reductions in prey abundances in those habitats. Sex ratio differences also explained a large proportion (33%) of differences in the composition of entire pond communities. Ultimately, we demonstrate the impact of known patterns of sexual dimorphism in a predator on its prey, uncovering overlooked links between evolutionary adaptation and the structure of contemporary communities. Given the extreme prevalence of sexual dimorphism, we argue that the independent evolution of the sexes will often have important consequences for ecological communities.
种内变异对生态群落的结构和功能可能具有重要意义，并将群落生态学与进化过程联系起来。性别差异是种内变异的一种极其普遍的形式，但它对群落水平的影响从未被实验调查过。在这里，我们在水生中观系统中操纵两性异形捕食蝾螈的性别比例，然后追踪它们对猎物群落的影响。雌性和雄性蝾螈分别优先在底栖和浮游区觅食，导致这些栖息地中猎物数量相应减少。性别比例差异也解释了整个池塘群落组成差异的很大一部分（33%）。最终，我们证明了已知的捕食者两性异形模式对其猎物的影响，揭示了进化适应与当代群落结构之间被忽视的联系。鉴于性二态性的极端普遍性，我们认为性别独立进化通常会对生态群落产生重要影响。
