Data and Code for: An Experimental Test of Eco-evolutionary Dynamics on Rocky Shores

Abstract: 

Despite a growing body of theoretical studies and laboratory experiments that have brought attention to the reciprocal impacts that ecological and evolutionary processes can have on one another, few studies have tested the importance of eco-evolutionary feedbacks in natural communities. We examined whether selection on natural phenotypic variation in a population of drilling dogwhelks (Nucella canaliculata) could impact rocky shore community dynamics. We performed a selection experiment raising newly-hatched dogwhelks on four diet treatments, reflecting natural variation in the abundance and shell thickness of prey species. Adult dogwhelks were tested in the laboratory on their ability to drill thick-shelled mussels. In addition, snails were outplanted to field cages to track the effects of dogwhelk phenotype on mussel bed succession. Despite our laboratory experiments suggesting that prey can impose selection and result in divergent consumer traits, successional patterns differed minimally based on the early-life diet of the dogwhelks.