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When can stress facilitate divergence by altering time to flowering?
Crispin Y Jordan1, Dilara Ally1, Kathryn A Hodgins1
1Department of Zoology University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada.
Ecology and Evolution
|January 27, 2016
Summary
Ecological stressors like water restriction and herbivory have varied effects on plant flowering times. While herbivory consistently delays flowering, water stress effects vary, impacting evolutionary divergence potential.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Plant Science
Background:
- Environmental stressors and heterogeneity are common in nature.
- Phenotypic plasticity in flowering time can lead to assortative mating and evolutionary divergence.
- Understanding how stressors affect flowering time is crucial for predicting evolutionary trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if common ecological stressors (water restriction, herbivory) induce consistent changes in flowering time across species.
- To assess the direction of flowering time shifts under stress and their implications for evolutionary divergence.
- To test the effects of water restriction and herbivory on flowering time and other traits in Mimulus guttatus.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on water restriction and herbivory effects on flowering time.
- Experimental manipulation of water availability and herbivory in Mimulus guttatus.
- Analysis of flowering time and non-phenology traits in response to stressors.
Main Results:
- Literature review indicates variable flowering time responses to water restriction but consistent delays due to herbivory.
- Mimulus guttatus experiments showed low water advanced flowering time, while herbivory delayed it.
- The direction of flowering time shifts under stress can either increase or decrease the potential for evolutionary divergence.
Conclusions:
- Results temper theoretical predictions of evolutionary divergence driven by habitat-induced flowering time changes.
- Variation in the direction of flowering time shifts under stress is key to understanding divergence potential.
- Caution is advised against adaptive interpretations of stress-induced phenology shifts.
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