Coadaptation shapes ecological interactions in mixotroph-resource systems

Mixotrophs combining autotrophy and heterotrophy are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and significantly influence ecosystem functioning. Mixotrophs may adapt their nutritional mode in response to selection, becoming more heterotrophic or more autotrophic over time. This may dynamically interact with adaptations in the defense level of their prey organisms (resources) as population dynamics are shaped by both competitive and predatory interactions. Here, we developed a trait-based mixotroph-resource model comprising a mixotrophic consumer (e.g. ciliate or algae) and a resource (e.g. autotrophic algae or bacteria) competing for inorganic nutrients. The model involves trade-offs between autotrophic and heterotrophic growth for the mixotroph, and between defense capacity against predation and maximum growth rate for the resource. We investigated the population and trait dynamics for different scenarios, in which none, one or both species were able to adapt their traits in response to sele..., We developed a trait-based model depicting a mixotroph (M) and a resource (R) in competition for nutrients, involving adaptations in mixotrophy (o) and defense (u) traits, respectively. The mixotrophy trait refers to the ability of M to obtain nutrition from both autotrophy and heterotrophy. The defense trait refers to the ability of R to resist predation from M. Regarding the ecological dynamics, our model tracks the flows in the different pools of particulate organic nutrients, i.e. M and R, and dissolved inorganic nutrients, i.e. N. The population sizes of the species are thus expressed in units of nutrients, e.g. nitrogen or phosphorus. To describe the temporal dynamics of the continuous defense (u) and mixotrophy (o) traits of the two different species, we employed the fitness gradient approach from quantitative genetics. Hence, u and o are assumed to change at a rate proportional to the genetic variance of the traits and the individual local fitness gradients., , TO READ before looking at the datasets of the project entitled **Coadaptation shapes ecological interactions in mixotroph-resource systems**

This dataset comprises two distinct folders:

**1. SIMULATION_CODE folder**

●        **Equations.m:** Contains the fundamental code with equations defining the mixotroph-resource model.

●        **ModelRun.m:** Basic code file used to execute the model employing the ode23 solver.

●        **biomass_phase.m:** Calculates the phase lag between mixotroph and resource biomass oscillations.

●        **run_no_adaptation.m:** Simulates the biomass dynamics in the parameter space defined by fixed values of defense and mixotrophy traits in the system without adaptation.

●        **run_u_VM.m:** Simulates the biomass and trait dynamics in the parameter space defined by the fixed defense trait values and the speeds of mixotrophy trait adaptation when only the mixotroph adapts.

●        **run_o_VR.m:** Simulates the biomass and trait dynamics in the par..., ,