Modeling Effects of Environmental Change on Wolf Population Dynamics, Trait Evolution, and Life History
Environmental change has been observed to generate simultaneous responses in population dynamics,
life history, gene frequencies, and morphology in a number of species. But how common are such
eco-evolutionary responses to environmental change likely to be? Are they inevitable, or do they
require a specific type of change? Can we accurately predict eco-evolutionary responses? We
address these questions using theory and data from the study of Yellowstone wolves. We show that
environmental change is expected to generate eco-evolutionary change, that changes in the
average environment will affect wolves to a greater extent than changes in how variable it is, and
that accurate prediction of the consequences of environmental change will probably prove elusive.
Publication Date: 2011
DOWNLOAD FILE — PDF document, 1,661 kB (1,701,755 bytes)
