Coevolution Creates Complex Mosaics across Large Landscapes

The spatial distribution of populations can influence the evolutionary outcome of species interactions. The variation in direction and strength of selection across local communities creates geographic selection mosaics that, when combined with gene flow and genomic processes such as genome duplication or hybridization, can fuel ongoing coevolution. A fundamental problem to solve is how coevolution proceeds when many populations that vary in their ecological outcomes are connected across large landscapes. Here we use a lattice model to explore this problem. Our results show that the complex interrelationships among the elements of the geographic mosaic of coevolution can lead to the formation of clusters of populations with similar phenotypes that are larger than expected by local selection. Our results indicate that neither the spatial distribution of phenotypes nor the spatial differences in magnitude and direction of selection alone dictate coevolutionary dynamics: the geographic mosaic of coevolution affects formation of phenotypic clusters, which in turn affect the spatial and temporal dynamics of coevolution. Because the formation of large phenotypic clusters depends on gene flow, we predict that current habitat fragmentation will change the outcomes of geographic mosaics, coupling spatial patterns in selection and phenotypes. (AU)