Data from: Direct and indirect ecosystem effects of evolutionary adaptation in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

Ecological and evolutionary processes may interact on the same timescale,
but we are just beginning to understand how. Several studies have examined
the net effects of adaptive evolution on ecosystem properties. However, we
do not know if the these effects are confined to direct interactions or if
they propagate further through indirect ecological pathways. Even less
well understood is how the combination of direct and indirect ecological
effects of the phenotype promotes or inhibits evolutionary change. We
coupled mesocosm experiments and ecosystem modeling to evaluate the
ecological effects of local adaptation in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia
reticulata). The experiments show that guppies adapted to life with and
without predators alter the ecosystem directly through differences in
diet. The ecosystem model reveals that the small total indirect effect of
the phenotype observed in the experiments is likely a combination of
several large indirect effects which act in opposing directions. The model
further suggests that these indirect effects can reverse the direction of
selection that direct effects alone exert back on phenotypic variation. We
conclude that phenotypic divergence can have major effects deep in the web
of indirect ecological interactions and even small total indirect effects
can radically change the dynamics of adaptation.