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Local Adaptation Is Highest in Populations With Stable Long-Term Growth.

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Population Genetics

Background:

  • Demographic variation and local adaptation are theorized to be interconnected, potentially influencing each other.
  • While controlled studies show links, the relationship between local adaptation and demography in natural settings is poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between local adaptation and demographic variation in natural populations.
  • To test if population growth rates and their sensitivities to vital rates correlate with the magnitude of local adaptation.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized 10 years of demographic data from 10 annual plant populations.
  • Conducted two reciprocal transplant experiments to assess local adaptation.
  • Analyzed population growth rates and their elasticities in relation to local adaptation metrics.

Main Results:

  • A significant unimodal relationship was observed between local adaptation and stochastic population growth rates across populations.
  • Other predicted correlations between demographic variation and local adaptation were weakly supported or not found.
  • Populations with declining or rapidly increasing growth rates exhibited reduced local adaptation.

Conclusions:

  • The study reveals a complex, non-linear relationship between local adaptation and population demography in natural environments.
  • Reduced local adaptation in declining populations may stem from maladaptation, while in rapidly growing populations, it could be due to relaxed selection.
  • These findings highlight the importance of considering demographic context when studying local adaptation in wild populations.