The evolution of Thermal Performance Curves and life-history traits in responses to thermal selection
Zilio, Giacomo ; Moodie, Iain R LU
; Malusare, Sarthak P
; Devillez, Marie-Ange
; Givens, Justina
; Gougat-Barbera, Claire
and Fronhofer, Emanuel A
(2026)
In Evolution
- Abstract
- Thermal performance curves (TPCs) capture how population growth depends on temperature. When temperatures increase, such as during global change, TPCs may evolve to match new environmental temperatures. While previous studies mostly focus on population growth rate TPCs, evolution can also be strongly trait-dependent and require a multi-trait analysis. Here, we empirically tested how TPCs and multiple demographic, life-history and movement traits evolve by selecting four freshwater protist species at increased temperatures starting from clonal populations. After ten months of selection, populations showed a signature of evolutionary responses to the highest selection temperatures in different traits depending on the species. Particularly,... (More)
- Thermal performance curves (TPCs) capture how population growth depends on temperature. When temperatures increase, such as during global change, TPCs may evolve to match new environmental temperatures. While previous studies mostly focus on population growth rate TPCs, evolution can also be strongly trait-dependent and require a multi-trait analysis. Here, we empirically tested how TPCs and multiple demographic, life-history and movement traits evolve by selecting four freshwater protist species at increased temperatures starting from clonal populations. After ten months of selection, populations showed a signature of evolutionary responses to the highest selection temperatures in different traits depending on the species. Particularly, we found consistent evolutionary reductions in body size in the three species having the largest cells and evolved changes in movement behaviour in all species. In contrast, we observed few modifications in population growth rate TPCs. These results suggest that adaptation, via evolution of TPCs, might involve the concurrent evolution of several traits. However, this may be species-specific and difficult from de-novo mutation alone, suggesting that natural populations that do not have sufficient standing genetic variation might have to rely on other means of mitigating the effects of climate change, such as dispersal. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b5f3403c-df9e-4746-83e9-8897b1cc4fdf
- author
- Zilio, Giacomo
; Moodie, Iain R
LU
; Malusare, Sarthak P
; Devillez, Marie-Ange
; Givens, Justina
; Gougat-Barbera, Claire
and Fronhofer, Emanuel A
- publishing date
- 2026-03-27
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- keywords
- thermal niche, experimental evolution, climate change, global change, adaptation
- in
- Evolution
- article number
- qpag052
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:41894220
- scopus:105041122487
- ISSN
- 1558-5646
- DOI
- 10.1093/evolut/qpag052
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Giacomo Zilio, Iain R Moodie and Sarthak P. Malusare shared first authorship.
- id
- b5f3403c-df9e-4746-83e9-8897b1cc4fdf
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-16 21:10:06
- date last changed
- 2026-07-23 04:00:52
@article{b5f3403c-df9e-4746-83e9-8897b1cc4fdf,
abstract = {{Thermal performance curves (TPCs) capture how population growth depends on temperature. When temperatures increase, such as during global change, TPCs may evolve to match new environmental temperatures. While previous studies mostly focus on population growth rate TPCs, evolution can also be strongly trait-dependent and require a multi-trait analysis. Here, we empirically tested how TPCs and multiple demographic, life-history and movement traits evolve by selecting four freshwater protist species at increased temperatures starting from clonal populations. After ten months of selection, populations showed a signature of evolutionary responses to the highest selection temperatures in different traits depending on the species. Particularly, we found consistent evolutionary reductions in body size in the three species having the largest cells and evolved changes in movement behaviour in all species. In contrast, we observed few modifications in population growth rate TPCs. These results suggest that adaptation, via evolution of TPCs, might involve the concurrent evolution of several traits. However, this may be species-specific and difficult from de-novo mutation alone, suggesting that natural populations that do not have sufficient standing genetic variation might have to rely on other means of mitigating the effects of climate change, such as dispersal.}},
author = {{Zilio, Giacomo and Moodie, Iain R and Malusare, Sarthak P and Devillez, Marie-Ange and Givens, Justina and Gougat-Barbera, Claire and Fronhofer, Emanuel A}},
issn = {{1558-5646}},
keywords = {{thermal niche; experimental evolution; climate change; global change; adaptation}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{03}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Evolution}},
title = {{The evolution of Thermal Performance Curves and life-history traits in responses to thermal selection}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag052}},
doi = {{10.1093/evolut/qpag052}},
year = {{2026}},
}