scholarly journals The ecological, genetic and genomic architecture of local adaptation and population differentiation in Boechera stricta

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1949) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Ping Lin ◽  
Thomas Mitchell-Olds ◽  
Cheng-Ruei Lee
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant Experiment ◽  
Multiple Loci ◽  
Genetic Groups ◽  
Boechera Stricta

Differential local adaptation restricts gene flow between populations inhabiting distinct environments, resulting in isolation by adaptation. In addition to the statistical inferences of genotype–environment associations, an integrative approach is needed to investigate the effect of local adaptation on population divergence at the ecological, genetic and genomic scale. Here, we combine reciprocal transplant, genome–environment association and QTL mapping to investigate local adaptation in Boechera stricta (Drummond's rockcress). With reciprocal transplant experiment, we found local genetic groups exhibit phenotypic characteristics corresponding to the distinct selection forces from different water availability. At the genetic level, the local allele of a major fitness QTL confers higher and sturdier flowering stalks, maximizing the fecundity fitness component under sufficient water supply, and its genetic variation is associated with precipitation across the landscape. At the genomewide scale, we further showed that multiple loci associated with precipitation are highly differentiated between genetic groups, suggesting that local adaptation has a widespread effect on reducing gene flow. This study provides one of the few comprehensive examples demonstrating how local adaptation facilitates population divergence at the trait, gene and genome level.

scholarly journals In a nutshell, a reciprocal transplant experiment reveals local adaptation and fitness trade-offs in response to urban evolution in an acorn-dwelling ant

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan A. Martin ◽  
Lacy D. Chick ◽  
Matthew L. Garvin ◽  
Sarah E. Diamond
Keyword(s):  
Urban Environment ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Rural Environment ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant Experiment ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Rural Environments

AbstractUrban-driven evolution is widely evident, but whether these changes confer fitness benefits and thus represent cases of adaptive urban evolution is less clear. We performed a multi-year field reciprocal transplant experiment of acorn-dwelling ants across urban and rural environments. Fitness trade-offs via survival were consistent with local adaptation: we found a survival advantage of the ‘home’ treatments compared to the ‘away’ treatments. Seasonal bias in survival was consistent with evolutionary patterns of gains and losses in thermal tolerance traits across the urbanization gradient, such that rural ants in the urban environment were more vulnerable in the summer, putatively due to low heat tolerance and urban ants in the rural environment were more vulnerable in winter, putatively due to an evolved loss of cold tolerance. The results for fitness via fecundity were more complex. Fecundity differences were present in the rural environment, but not the urban environment, and could reflect mismatched cues for the seasonal production of reproductives. To broadly contextualize our results, we performed a multi-species meta-analysis of urban adaptive evolution studies and found general support for local adaptation. The rural adaptation signal was stronger than for urban adaptation, consistent with the relative differences in time for adaptation to occur.

scholarly journals Does Local Adaptation Impact on the Distribution of Competing Aedes Disease Vectors?

Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Kelly L. Bennett ◽  
William Owen McMillan ◽  
Jose R. Loaiza
Keyword(s):  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Disease Vectors ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant Experiment ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Ecological Resources ◽  
The Face ◽  
Arboviral Disease

Ae. (Stegomyia) aegypti L. and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus Skuse mosquitoes are major arboviral disease vectors in human populations. Interspecific competition between these species shapes their distribution and hence the incidence of disease. While Ae. albopictus is considered a superior competitor for ecological resources and displaces its contender Ae. aegypti from most environments, the latter is able to persist with Ae. albopictus under particular environmental conditions, suggesting species occurrence cannot be explained by resource competition alone. The environment is an important determinant of species displacement or coexistence, although the factors underpinning its role remain little understood. In addition, it has been found that Ae. aegypti can be adapted to the environment across a local scale. Based on data from the Neotropical country of Panama, we present the hypothesis that local adaptation to the environment is critical in determining the persistence of Ae. aegypti in the face of its direct competitor Ae. albopictus. We show that although Ae. albopictus has displaced Ae. aegypti in some areas of Panama, both species coexist across many areas, including regions where Ae. aegypti appear to be locally adapted to dry climate conditions and less vegetated environments. Based on these findings, we describe a reciprocal transplant experiment to test our hypothesis, with findings expected to provide fundamental insights into the role of environmental variation in shaping the landscape of emerging arboviral disease.

scholarly journals Evaluation of genetic isolation within an island flora reveals unusually widespread local adaptation and supports sympatric speciation

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1648) ◽  
pp. 20130342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander S. T. Papadopulos ◽  
Maria Kaye ◽  
Céline Devaux ◽  
Helen Hipperson ◽  
Jackie Lighten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Isolation By Distance ◽  
Model Averaging ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Isolation By Environment

It is now recognized that speciation can proceed even when divergent natural selection is opposed by gene flow. Understanding the extent to which environmental gradients and geographical distance can limit gene flow within species can shed light on the relative roles of selection and dispersal limitation during the early stages of population divergence and speciation. On the remote Lord Howe Island (Australia), ecological speciation with gene flow is thought to have taken place in several plant genera. The aim of this study was to establish the contributions of isolation by environment (IBE) and isolation by community (IBC) to the genetic structure of 19 plant species, from a number of distantly related families, which have been subjected to similar environmental pressures over comparable time scales. We applied an individual-based, multivariate, model averaging approach to quantify IBE and IBC, while controlling for isolation by distance (IBD). Our analyses demonstrated that all species experienced some degree of ecologically driven isolation, whereas only 12 of 19 species were subjected to IBD. The prevalence of IBE within these plant species indicates that divergent selection in plants frequently produces local adaptation and supports hypotheses that ecological divergence can drive speciation in sympatry.

scholarly journals Trait dimensionality explains widespread variation in local adaptation

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20141570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ailene MacPherson ◽  
Paul A. Hohenlohe ◽  
Scott L. Nuismer
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Strong Correlation ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
Population Growth Rates ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

All species are locked in a continual struggle to adapt to local ecological conditions. In cases where species fail to locally adapt, they face reduced population growth rates, or even local extinction. Traditional explanations for limited local adaptation focus on maladaptive gene flow or homogeneous environmental conditions. These classical explanations have, however, failed to explain variation in the magnitude of local adaptation observed across taxa. Here we show that variable levels of local adaptation are better explained by trait dimensionality. First, we develop and analyse mathematical models that predict levels of local adaptation will increase with the number of traits experiencing spatially variable selection. Next, we test this prediction by estimating the relationship between dimensionality and local adaptation using data from 35 published reciprocal transplant studies. This analysis reveals a strong correlation between dimensionality and degree of local adaptation, and thus provides empirical support for the predictions of our model.

Performance of four mosses in a reciprocal transplant experiment: implications for peatland succession in NE China

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaojun Bu ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
Håkan Rydin ◽  
Shengzhong Wang ◽  
Jinze Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
Transplant Experiment ◽  
Ne China ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant Experiment
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