Climate vs. soil factors in local adaptation of two common plant species.
Evolutionary theory suggests that divergent natural selection in heterogeneous environments can result in locally adapted plant genotypes. To understand local adaptation it is important to study the ecological factors responsible for divergent selection. At a continental scale, variation in climate can be important while at a local scale soil properties could also play a role. We designed an experiment aimed to disentangle the role of climate and (abiotic and biotic) soil properties in local adaptation of two common plant species. A grass (Holcus lanatus) and a legume (Lotus corniculatus), as well as their local soils, were reciprocally transplanted between three sites across an Atlantic-Continental gradient in Europe and grown in common gardens in either their home soil or foreign soils. Growth and reproductive traits were measured over two growing seasons. In both species, we found significant environmental and genetic effects on most of the growth and reproductive traits and a significant interaction between the two environmental effects of soil and climate. The grass species showed significant home site advantage in most of the fitness components, which indicated adaptation to climate. We found no indication that the grass was adapted to local soil conditions. The legume showed a significant home soil advantage for number of fruits only and thus a weak indication of adaptation to soil and no adaptation to climate. Our results show that the importance of climate and soil factors as drivers of local adaptation is species-dependent. This could be related to differences in interactions between plant species and soil biota.
Macel
Mirka
M
University of Fribourg, Department of Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Chemin du musée 10, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. mmacel@ucdavis.edu
Lawson
Clare S
CS
Mortimer
Simon R
SR
Smilauerova
Marie
M
Bischoff
Armin
A
Crémieux
Lisèle
L
Dolezal
Jirí
J
Edwards
Andrew R
AR
Lanta
Vojtĕch
V
Bezemer
T Martijn
TM
Van der Putten
Wim H
WH
Igual
José M
JM
Rodriguez-Barrueco
Claudino
C
Müller-Schärer
Heinz
H
Steinger
Thomas
T
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002980:Climate; D031752:Holcus / Q000502:physiology*; D000070116:Lotus / Q000502:physiology*; D012987:Soil
D012987:Soil