title: Quantitative genetic variance and multivariate clines in the Ivyleaf morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea.
abstract: Clinal variation is commonly interpreted as evidence of adaptive differentiation, although clines can also be produced by stochastic forces. Understanding whether clines are adaptive therefore requires comparing clinal variation to background patterns of genetic differentiation at presumably neutral markers. Although this approach has frequently been applied to single traits at a time, we have comparatively fewer examples of how multiple correlated traits vary clinally. Here, we characterize multivariate clines in the Ivyleaf morning glory, examining how suites of traits vary with latitude, with the goal of testing for divergence in trait means that would indicate past evolutionary responses. We couple this with analysis of genetic variance in clinally varying traits in 20 populations to test whether past evolutionary responses have depleted genetic variance, or whether genetic variance declines approaching the range margin. We find evidence of clinal differentiation in five quantitative traits, with little evidence of isolation by distance at neutral loci that would suggest non-adaptive or stochastic mechanisms. Within and across populations, the traits that contribute most to population differentiation and clinal trends in the multivariate phenotype are genetically variable as well, suggesting that a lack of genetic variance will not cause absolute evolutionary constraints. Our data are broadly consistent theoretical predictions of polygenic clines in response to shallow environmental gradients. Ecologically, our results are consistent with past findings of natural selection on flowering phenology, presumably due to season-length variation across the range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2.
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2.
authors.forename: Brandon E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Campitelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2 Centre for the Analysis of Genome Evolution and Function, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2 john.stinchcombe@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Stinchcombe
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics*; D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005843:Geography; D027741:Ipomoea / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D013045:Species Specificity; D014481:United States
keywords: clines; genetic constraint; genetic variance; principal components analysis; quantitative genetics