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Title: Plasticity-mediated persistence and subsequent local adaptation in a global agricultural weed
Abstract Phenotypic plasticity can alter traits that are crucial to population establishment in a new environment before adaptation can occur. How often phenotypic plasticity enables subsequent adaptive evolution is unknown, and examples of the phenomenon are limited. We investigated the hypothesis of plasticity-mediated persistence as a means of colonization of agricultural fields in one of the world’s worst weeds, Raphanus raphanistrum ssp. raphanistrum. Using non-weedy native populations of the same species and subspecies as a comparison, we tested for plasticity-mediated persistence in a growth chamber reciprocal transplant experiment. We identified traits with genetic differentiation between the weedy and native ecotypes as well as phenotypic plasticity between growth chamber environments. We found that most traits were both plastic and differentiated between ecotypes, with the majority plastic and differentiated in the same direction. This suggests that phenotypic plasticity may have enabled radish populations to colonize and then adapt to novel agricultural environments.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2223962 1655386
PAR ID:
10552468
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Oxford University Press
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Evolution
Volume:
78
Issue:
11
ISSN:
0014-3820
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: p. 1804-1817
Size(s):
p. 1804-1817
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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