Evolution arrests invasions of cooperative populations

Abstract

Population expansions trigger many biomedical and ecological transitions, from tumor growth to invasions of non-native species. Although population spreading often selects for more invasive phenotypes, we show that this outcome is far from inevitable. In cooperative populations, mutations reducing dispersal have a competitive advantage. Such mutations then steadily accumulate at the expansion front bringing invasion to a halt. Our findings are a rare example of evolution driving the population into an unfavorable state and could lead to new strategies to combat unwelcome invaders. In addition, we obtain an exact analytical expression for the fitness advantage of mutants with different dispersal rates.

References in corpus (4)

• Gene surfing
• Selective sweeps in growing microbial colonies
• The fate of cooperation during range expansions
• Public good diffusion limits microbial mutualism

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Slow expanders invade by forming dented fronts in microbial colonies
• Optimal diffusion in ecological dynamics with Allee effect in a metapopulation
• Spatial Dispersal of Bacterial Colonies Induces a Dynamical Transition From Local to Global Quorum Sensing
• Branching random graph model of rough surfaces describes thermal properties of the effective molecular potential
• Fixation in Competing Populations: Diffusion and Strategies for Survival
• Diffusion plays an unusual role in ecological quasi-neutral competition in metapopulations
• Pinned, locked, pushed, and pulled traveling waves in structured environments
• Neither pulled nor pushed: Genetic drift and front wandering uncover a new class of reaction-diffusion waves
• Discontinuous Wealth-Gradient Transition Driving Cooperation