Selective pressure along a latitudinal gradient affects subindividual variation in plants.
Individual plants produce repeated structures such as leaves, flowers or fruits, which, although belonging to the same genotype, are not phenotypically identical. Such subindividual variation reflects the potential of individual genotypes to vary with micro-environmental conditions. Furthermore, variation in organ traits imposes costs to foraging animals such as time, energy and increased predation risk. Therefore, animals that interact with plants may respond to this variation and affect plant fitness. Thus, phenotypic variation within an individual plant could be, in part, an adaptive trait. Here we investigated this idea and we found that subindividual variation of fruit size of Crataegus monogyna, in different populations throughout the latitudinal gradient in Europe, was explained at some extent by the selective pressures exerted by seed-dispersing birds. These findings support the hypothesis that within-individual variation in plants is an adaptive trait selected by interacting animals which may have important implications for plant evolution.
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
Mar
M
Sobral
José
J
Guitián
Pablo
P
Guitián
Asier R
AR
Larrinaga
D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D027825:Crataegus / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005060:Europe; D005638:Fruit; D005843:Geography; D010641:Phenotype; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012639:Seeds; D012641:Selection, Genetic