Publication
Evolvability and trait function predict phenotypic divergence of plant populations
Publisher:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date:
29-12-2022
DOI:
10.1073/PNAS.2203228120
Abstract: Understanding the causes and limits of population ergence in phenotypic traits is a fundamental aim of evolutionary biology, with the potential to yield predictions of adaptation to environmental change. Reciprocal transplant experiments and the evaluation of optimality models suggest that local adaptation is common but not universal, and some studies suggest that trait ergence is highly constrained by genetic variances and covariances of complex phenotypes. We analyze a large database of population ergence in plants and evaluate whether evolutionary ergence scales positively with standing genetic variation within populations (evolvability), as expected if genetic constraints are evolutionarily important. We further evaluate differences in ergence and evolvability– ergence relationships between reproductive and vegetative traits and between selfing, mixed-mating, and outcrossing species, as these factors are expected to influence both patterns of selection and evolutionary potentials. Evolutionary ergence scaled positively with evolvability. Furthermore, trait ergence was greater for vegetative traits than for floral (reproductive) traits, but largely independent of the mating system. Jointly, these factors explained ~40% of the variance in evolutionary ergence. The consistency of the evolvability– ergence relationships across erse species suggests substantial predictability of trait ergence. The results are also consistent with genetic constraints playing a role in evolutionary ergence.