Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in Cold Blood

Eco-evolutionary dynamics occur when ecological change influences evolutionary change (eco-to-evo) and when evolutionary change influences ecological change (evo-to-eco), both on contemporary time scales. Fishes, amphibians, and reptiles have played important roles as study animals in the empirical study and exploration of these dynamics. We suggest that this primacy stems in part from the sweet-spot that many species of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles occupy on the continuum from experimental convenience to ecological importance, as well as on the particular organismal properties that they share, including indeterminate growth and ectothermy. Yet our overall understanding of eco-evolutionary dynamics remains very limited. In the hope of reducing this information gap, the present symposium proceedings include 12 contributions that speak directly to three critical topics in eco-evolutionary dynamics: the role of human influences, constraints and alternatives, and the context dependence of eco-evolutionary dynamics in nature.