Research Topic

Experimental Evolution

A synthesis between evolutionary biology and community ecology has been emerging in the early 2000s, emphasizing that species evolution influences the processes of community assembly, and that, in turn, community context influences species evolution on the short and long term. In this context, microorganisms, and particularly bacteria, have allowing ecologists to tackle directly the conditions of emergence and dynamics of species diversity in complex environments. They offer the unique opportunity to obtain rapid ecological and evolutionary responses using experimental designs that fulfill the assumptions of theoretical models.

Interested by the questions related to coexistence and emerging properties in competitive communities, I have addressed the condition of emergence of species diversity in spatially and temporally heterogeneous environments. Working with the metacommunity perspective I could not help integrating elements of spatial dynamics into this experimental work. Most of this work has been done using the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens and Biolog GN2 microplates containing 95 unique carbon sources to recreate spatially heterogeneous environments. Questions related to ecological specialization and trait selection and the evolution of diversity and the relationship between ecosystem functioning and biodiversity were also addressed.

Publications

Evolving Species Diversity

  1. Livingston G., Matias W.M., Calcagno C., Barbera C., Combe M., Leibold M. and Mouquet N. (2012). Competition colonization dynamics in experimental bacterial metacommunities. Nature Communication, 3, 1234, doi:10.1038/ncomms2239

  2. Venail P., Kaltz O., Olivieri I., Pommier T., Mouquet N. (2011). Diversification in temporally heterogeneous environments: effect of the grain in experimental bacterial populations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02376.x

  3. Venail P., MacLean R.C., Bouvier T., Brockhurst M.A., Hochberg M., Mouquet N. (2008). Diversity and productivity peak at intermediate dispersal rate in evolving metacommunities. Nature, doi.org/10.1038/nature06554

Publications

Evolving the Biodiversity Ecosystem Functioning Relationship

  1. Jousset A., Eisenhauer N., Merker M., Mouquet N., Scheu S. (2016). High functional diversity stimulates diversification in experimental microbial communities. Science Advances, doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600124

  2. Matias M.G., Combe M., Barbera C., Mouquet N. (2013). Ecological strategies shape the insurance potential of biodiversity. Frontiers in Microbiology, doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00432

  3. Gravel D.*, Bell T., Barbera C., Combe M., Pommier T., Mouquet N.* (2012). Phylogenetic constraints on ecosystem functioning. Nature Communications, doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2123 (* These authors contributed equally to this study)

  4. Gravel D., Bell T., Barbera C., Bouvier T., Pommier T., Venail P., Mouquet N. (2010). Experimental niche evolution alters the strength of the diversity-productivity relationship. Nature, doi.org/10.1038/nature09592

  5. Venail P., MacLean R.C., Meynard C.N., Mouquet N. (2010). Dispersal scales up the biodiversity-productivity relationship in an experimental source-sink metacommunity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.2104

Publications

Specialization and Traits Selection

  1. Rain Franco A., Mouquet N., C. Gougat Barbera, T. Bouvier, S. Beier (2021). Niche breadth affects bacterial transcription patterns along a salinity gradient. Molecular Ecology, doi:10.1111/mec.16316

  2. Gounand I., Daufresne T., Gravel D., Bouvier C., Bouvier T., Combe M., Gougat-Barbera C., Poly F., Torres-Barcelo C., Mouquet N. (2016). Size evolution in microorganisms masks trade-offs predicted by the growth rate hypothesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2272

  3. Gray S.M., Poisot T., Harvey E., Mouquet N., Miller T.E., Gravel D. (2015). Temperature and trophic structure are driving microbial productivity along a biogeographical gradient. Ecography, doi.org/10.1111/ecog.01748

  4. Gounand I., Kefi S., Mouquet N., Gravel D. (2016). Trait selection during food web assembly: the roles of interactions and temperature. Theoretical Ecology, doi.org/10.1007/s12080-016-0299-7

  5. Kadowaki K., Barbera C., Godsoe W., Delsuc F., Mouquet N. (2016). Predicting biotic interactions and their variability in a changing environment. Biology Letters, doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.1073

Research themes

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Aesthetics Value of Biodiversity iconAesthetics Value of Biodiversity Biodiversity & Ecosystem Functioning iconBiodiversity & Ecosystem Functioning Biogeography, Macroecology & Ecophylogenetics iconBiogeography, Macroecology & Ecophylogenetics Experimental Evolution iconExperimental Evolution Functional Biogeography iconFunctional Biogeography Functional Rarity iconFunctional Rarity Metacommunities iconMetacommunities Metaecosystems iconMetaecosystems Nature for Future iconNature for Future Reviews and synthesis iconReviews and Synthesis Trophic Biogeography & Metaweb iconTrophic Biogeography & Metaweb Biodiful iconBiodiful OutreachOutreach CollaboratorsCollaborators