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Plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation in Nucella lapillus: an assessment using reciprocal transplant and common garden experiments.

ABSTRACT: Assessment of plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation is crucial for understanding the evolution of adaptive character traits in heterogeneous environments. We assessed the above in relation to adaptive shell morphology of the rocky intertidal snail Nucella lapillus by reciprocal transplantation of snails between two shores differing in wave action and rearing snails of the same provenance in a common garden. Results were compared with those reported for similar experiments conducted elsewhere. Microsatellite variation indicated limited gene flow between the populations. Intrinsic growth rate was greater in exposed-site than sheltered-site snails, but the reverse was true of absolute growth rate, suggesting heritable compensation for reduced foraging opportunity at the exposed site. Shell morphology of reciprocal transplants partially converged through plasticity toward that of native snails. Shell morphology of F(2)s in the common garden partially retained characteristics of the P-generation, suggesting genetic control. A maternal effect was revealed by greater resemblance of F(1)s than F(2)s to the P-generation. The observed synergistic effects of plastic, maternal and genetic control of shell-shape may be expected to maximise fitness when environmental characteristics become unpredictable through dispersal.

SUBMITTER: Pascoal S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3267715 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation in Nucella lapillus: an assessment using reciprocal transplant and common garden experiments.

Pascoal Sonia S Carvalho Gary G Creer Simon S Rock Jenny J Kawaii Kei K Mendo Sonia S Hughes Roger R

PloS one 20120127 1

Assessment of plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation is crucial for understanding the evolution of adaptive character traits in heterogeneous environments. We assessed the above in relation to adaptive shell morphology of the rocky intertidal snail Nucella lapillus by reciprocal transplantation of snails between two shores differing in wave action and rearing snails of the same provenance in a common garden. Results were compared with those reported for similar experiments cond ...[more]

PMID: 22299035

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Project description:BackgroundPopulation differentiation and their adaptation to a particular environment depend on their ability to respond to a new environment. This, in turn is governed to an extent, by the degree of phenotypic plasticity exhibited by the populations. The populations of same species inhabiting different climatic conditions may differ in their phenotypic plasticity. Himalayan populations of Arabidopsis thaliana originating from a steep altitude are exposed to different climatic conditions ranging from sub-tropical to temperate. Thus they might have experienced different selection pressures during evolution and may respond differently under common environmental condition.ResultsPhenotypic plasticity and differentiation of natural populations of A. thaliana grown under common garden and controlled conditions were determined. A total of seventeen morphological traits, their plasticity, association between traits and environment were performed using 45 accessions from three populations. Plants from different altitudes differed in phenotypes, their selection and fitness under two conditions. Under both the conditions lower altitude population was characterized by higher leaf count and larger silique than higher and middle altitude population. Flowering time of high altitude population increased while that of low and medium altitude decreased under controlled condition compared to open field. An increase in seed weight and germination was observed for all the population under open field than controlled. Rosette area was under divergent selection in both the condition. The heritability of lower altitude population was the highest under both the conditions, where as it was the least for higher altitude population further indicating that the high altitude populations are more responsive towards phenotypic changes under new environmental conditions. Ninety-nine percent of variability in traits and their plasticity co-varied with the altitude of their origin. The population of high altitude was more plastic and differentiated as compared to the lower altitude one.ConclusionsArabidopsis thaliana population native to different altitudes of the west Himalaya responds differently when grown under common environments. The success of high altitude population is more in common garden than the controlled conditions. The significant variability in phenotype and its association with altitude of origin predicts for non-random genetic differentiation among the populations.

Project description:Climate warming poses considerable challenges for alpine plant species, especially for competitively inferior ones with resource-conservative adaptations to cold climates. The Himalayas are warming at rates considerably faster than the global average, so it is particularly important to assess how and through which mechanisms alpine plant species are affected there. We employed a demographic approach in a climate change experiment, where vegetation turfs were transplanted reciprocally between the central parts of the study species' (Viola biflora L. var. rockiana) range and the warmer range margin, with a temperature difference of ca. 1°C. In addition, turfs were also transplanted outside the range to warmer habitats, simulating two different scenarios of climate warming, +1 and +4°C. Transplanting to warmer sites negatively impacted population growth rates (λ), survival and clonality, but did not affect growth and fecundity, while the productivity of the plant community increased. The reciprocal transplants to the colder habitat showed the opposite effects, for both V. biflora and the plant community, indicating plastic responses of the study species, driven by changes in plant-plant competition. However, the leaf traits underlying the modeled population growth rates were origin-site specific and not affected by the climate-change treatments over the study period, suggesting local adaptation of growth form to competition in the warmer range margin, and to climate adversity in the colder range center. The transplants outside the present species' range showed consistently stronger reductions in population growth rate and survival, with mortality of 90-100% in the +4°C treatment. This illustrates that climatic changes beyond species' present climatic ranges pose a serious risk for range contraction and extinction for Himalayan alpine species in the near future. As V. biflora seems mostly limited by competition under warming, its persistence in a future climate may become increasingly dependent on keeping competitive effects from the surrounding community low, for instance by management interventions like grazing and mowing.

Dataset Information

Plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation in Nucella lapillus: an assessment using reciprocal transplant and common garden experiments.

Publications

Plastic and heritable components of phenotypic variation in Nucella lapillus: an assessment using reciprocal transplant and common garden experiments.

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