Adaptational lags during periods of environmental change

Abstract Effects of climate change can be handled by means of mitigation and adaptation. In the biological sciences, adaptations are solutions which evolved when organisms needed to match an ecological challenge. Based on Adaptive Dynamics theory, a definition is proposed of adapted states and adaptational lags applicable during periods with environmental change of any speed. Adaptation can thus be studied when it emerges from complex eco-evolutionary processes or when targets for adaptation are not defined a priori. The approach is exemplified with a model for delayed germination in an annual plant. Plasticity and maternal effects are often presumed to be adaptive and added to the model to investigate lags in these modes of trait determination. Adaptational lags can change sign and to understand their dynamics, effects of trait space boundaries and characteristics of years with large numbers of recruits had to be considered. Adaptational lags can be crucial elements of adaptive control strategies for managed ecosystems. To demonstrate their practical relevance, examples from pest management show that evolutionary adaptation has been used to infer targets of control. Adaptational lags then serve as measures of the distance to the control target and become integral elements of strategies for adaptive pest population management.