Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 283, Issue 1829, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2841
Keywords
coevolution; local adaptation; venom; resistance; molecular variation; predator-prey interactions
Categories
Funding
- NSF GRF
- American Society of Naturalists
- Herpetologists' League
- American Museum of Natural History
- American Society of Mammalogists
- California Bureau of Land Management
- Sigma Xi
- American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
- Chicago Herpetological Society
- Ohio State University
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Measuring local adaptation can provide insights into how coevolution occurs between predators and prey. Specifically, theory predicts that local adaptation in functionally matched traits of predators and prey will not be detected when coevolution is governed by escalating arms races, whereas it will be present when coevolution occurs through an alternate mechanism of phenotype matching. Here, we analyse local adaptation in venom activity and prey resistance across 12 populations of Northern Pacific rattle snakes and California ground squirrels, an interaction that has often been described as an arms race. Assays of venom function and squirrel resistance show substantial geographical variation (influenced by site elevation) in both venom metalloproteinase activity and resistance factor effectiveness. We demonstrate local adaptation in the effectiveness of rattlesnake venom to overcoming present squirrel resistance, suggesting that phenotype matching plays a role in the coevolution of these molecular traits. Further, the predator was the locally adapted antagonist in this interaction, arguing that rattlesnakes are evolutionarily ahead of their squirrel prey. Phenotype matching needs to be considered as an important mechanism influencing coevolution between venomous animals and resistant prey.
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