How ecology can trap evolution under climate change

Madhav P. Thakur, Catherine L. Peichel

Ecological responses to climate change, including plasticity, behaviour, demography, and interactions, can actively trap evolutionary trajectories, not simply facilitate or impede adaptation. Despite growing interest in eco-evolutionary dynamics under climate change, we lack a framework for predicting when ecological change reshapes evolutionary responses. Here, we propose three modes of eco-evolutionary traps: the Pause, where ecological buffering attenuates selection and accumulates hidden maladaptation; the Decoy, where disrupted cues steer trait evolution toward false optima or developmental dead ends; and the Surge, where rapid evolutionary tracking incurs genetic costs that erode future evolvability. We discuss these traps across evolutionary rescue, maladaptive evolution, genotype–phenotype relationships, and species interactions to predict how ecological responses shape, constrain, and redirect evolutionary trajectories under climate change.