Rapid, parallel evolution of field mustard (Brassica rapa) under experimental drought

Climate change is driving evolutionary and plastic responses in populations, but predicting these responses remains challenging. Studies that combine experimental evolution with ancestor-descendant comparisons allow assessment of the causes, parallelism, and adaptive nature of evolutionary responses, although such studies remain rare, particularly in a climate change context. Here, we created experimental populations of Brassica rapa derived from the same natural population and exposed these replicated populations to experimental drought or watered conditions for four generations. We then grew ancestors and descendants concurrently, following the resurrection approach. Experimental populations under drought showed rapid evolution of earlier flowering time and increased specific leaf area, consistent with a drought escape strategy and observations in natural populations. Evolutionary shifts followed the direction of selection and increased fitness under drought, indicative of adaptive evolution. Evolution to drought also occurred largely in parallel among replicate populations. Further, traits showed phenotypic plasticity to drought, but the direction and effect size of plasticity varied. Our results demonstrate parallel evolution to experimental drought, suggesting that evolution to strong, consistent selection may be predictable. Broadly, our study demonstrates the utility of combining experimental evolution with the resurrection approach to investigate responses to climate change.