Dataset Information

Rapid evolution caused by pollinator loss in Mimulus guttatus.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic perturbations including habitat loss and emerging disease are changing pollinator communities and generating novel selection pressures on plant populations. Disruption of plant-pollinator relationships is predicted to cause plant mating system evolution, although this process has not been directly observed. This study demonstrates the immediate evolutionary effects of pollinator loss within experimental populations of a predominately outcrossing wildflower. Initially equivalent populations evolved for five generations within two pollination treatments: abundant bumblebee pollinators versus no pollinators. The populations without pollinators suffered greatly reduced fitness in early generations but rebounded as they evolved an improved ability to self-fertilize. All populations diverged in floral, developmental, and life-history traits, but only a subset of characters showed clear association with pollination treatment. Pronounced treatment effects were noted for anther-stigma separation and autogamous seed set. Dramatic allele frequency changes at two chromosomal polymorphisms occurred in the no pollinator populations, explaining a large fraction of divergence in pollen viability. The pattern of phenotypic and genetic changes in this experiment favors a sequential model for the evolution of the multitrait "selfing syndrome" observed throughout angiosperms.

SUBMITTER: Roels SA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5958604 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rapid evolution caused by pollinator loss in Mimulus guttatus.

Roels Sarah A Bodbyl SA Kelly John K JK

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution 20110901 9

Anthropogenic perturbations including habitat loss and emerging disease are changing pollinator communities and generating novel selection pressures on plant populations. Disruption of plant-pollinator relationships is predicted to cause plant mating system evolution, although this process has not been directly observed. This study demonstrates the immediate evolutionary effects of pollinator loss within experimental populations of a predominately outcrossing wildflower. Initially equivalent pop ...[more]

PMID: 21884055

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Project description:The rise of globalization has spread organisms beyond their natural range, allowing further opportunity for species to adapt to novel environments and potentially become invaders. Yet, the role of thermal niche evolution in promoting the success of invasive species remains poorly understood. Here, we use thermal performance curves (TPCs) to test hypotheses about thermal adaptation during the invasion process. First, we tested the hypothesis that if species largely conserve their thermal niche in the introduced range, invasive populations may not evolve distinct TPCs relative to native populations, against the alternative hypothesis that thermal niche and therefore TPC evolution has occurred in the invasive range. Second, we tested the hypothesis that clines of TPC parameters are shallower or absent in the invasive range, against the alternative hypothesis that with sufficient time, standing genetic variation, and temperature-mediated selection, invasive populations would re-establish clines found in the native range in response to temperature gradients. To test these hypotheses, we built TPCs for 18 native (United States) and 13 invasive (United Kingdom) populations of the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. We grew clones of multiple genotypes per population at six temperature regimes in growth chambers. We found that invasive populations have not evolved different thermal optima or performance breadths, providing evidence for evolutionary stasis of thermal performance between the native and invasive ranges after over 200 years post introduction. Thermal optimum increased with mean annual temperature in the native range, indicating some adaptive differentiation among native populations that was absent in the invasive range. Further, native and invasive populations did not exhibit adaptive clines in thermal performance breadth with latitude or temperature seasonality. These findings suggest that TPCs remained unaltered post invasion, and that invasion may proceed via broad thermal tolerance and establishment in already climatically suitable areas rather than rapid evolution upon introduction.

Dataset Information

Rapid evolution caused by pollinator loss in Mimulus guttatus.

Publications

Rapid evolution caused by pollinator loss in Mimulus guttatus.

Similar Datasets

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