This study builds on nearly two decades of research of the mechanisms of local adaptation between coastal and inland Mimulus guttatus populations.
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Previously, Megan Hall and I established that coastal and inland populations of Mimulus guttatus are highly locally adapted to their respective environments.
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Over the years, we have identified genetic loci involved in local adaptation in this system, including a large chromosomal inversion polymorphism that plays the largest role in local adaptation by facilitating trade-offs between growth, reproduction, and herbivore resistance.
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While this research moved forward, we still didn't know exactly what environmental factors contributed to local adaptation. This would require manipulative field experiments.
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Many other studies of local adaptation have focused on just one environmental variable that drives selection at both ends of an environmental gradient: For example, predation of mice on different soils or walking stick insect on different host plants.
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We always suspected that this was not the case in our system. We knew that flowering time escape from drought was the major mode of adaptation in inland habitats, but the agents of selection in coastal habitat were murky.
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There was evidence that coastal perennial plants were more salt tolerant and had higher levels of herbivore resistance compounds, but we did not really know the degree to which these factors played a role in nature.
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Enter Damian Popovic, a master's student in my lab. Damian came up with the idea that we could eliminate aboveground selection (herbivory and salt spray) by surrounding plots with an agrofabric material.
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Seemed like a nice idea, but I was skeptical that the treatment effect sizes would be very large. So, I insisted that Damian plant hundreds of replicates.
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Low and behold, I was wrong. Inland plant survival at the coast went from nearly 100% mortality to nearly 100% survival to flowering simply by enclosing the plot with a thin veil of fabric.
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The neat conclusion of this study is that above ground factors explain almost all of natural selection responsible for local adaptation to the coastal habitat, while below ground factors (soil water availability) explain almost all of selection in inland habitats.
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Thus, when thinking about local adaptation, it is very important to think about all the abiotic and biotic agents of selection that might be responsible for local adaptation.
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Hopefully, many more people will join in and start doing manipulative field experiments like this to help understand how different environmental factors contribute to local adaptation.
@jillthanderson and her lab are really leading the way in this area.Prikaži ovu nit
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