The contribution of parasitism to selection on floral traits in Heuchera grossulariifolia

Parasites are ubiquitous and have well-documented ecological consequences. In contrast, the extent to which parasites drive phenotypic evolution in hosts remains obscure. We use a recently developed statistical technique--selective source analysis--to analyse the strength of phenotypic selection acting on floral traits in the plant Heuchera grossulariifolia attributable to attack by the seed-parasitic moth, Greya politella. This analysis spanned 3 years and included two sympatric populations of the host plant H. grossulariifolia that differ in ploidy. Our analyses revealed that attack by G. politella contributed to phenotypic selection for flowering time and floral display size, favouring earlier flowering in the polyploid population, later flowering in the diploid population and increased floral display size in the polyploid population. Although selection imposed by parasite attack was generally quite weak, in one of the 3 years parasites generated a modestly strong selection gradient (beta = -0.059) that explained 38.6% of total observed phenotypic selection for earlier flowering in the polyploid population. Together, our results demonstrate parasites can generate significant phenotypic selection, but that such selection may be sporadic across populations and time.