Contrasting patterns of transgenerational plasticity in ecologically distinct congeners

Abstract

Stressful parental environments can influence offspring size and development either adaptively or maladaptively, yet little is known about species' differences in this complex aspect of phenotypic plasticity. We performed a reciprocal split-brood experiment to compare transgenerational plasticity in response to drought stress in two closely related annual plant species. We raised inbred replicate parent plants of eight genotypes per species in dry vs. moist soil to generate offspring of each genetic line that differed only in parental environment, then monitored seedling development in both dry and moist conditions. Individuals of the two species expressed contrasting patterns of transgenerational plasticity for traits important to seedling drought tolerance. In Polygonum persicaria, a weedy generalist found in moist, dry, and variably dry sites, drought-stressed plants produced offspring with longer and more rapidly extending root systems and greater biomass when growing in dry soil. In contrast, in P. hydropiper, a non-weedy congener restricted to moist habitats, the offspring of drought-stressed parents had reduced root system development and seedling biomass in dry soil. In P. persicaria, transgenerational and immediate adaptive plasticity combined to produce drought-adapted seedling phenotypes. These results make clear that characteristic patterns of transgenerational plasticity can contribute to ecological diversity among species.

Trans-generational plasticity in physiological thermal tolerance is modulated by maternal pre-reproductive environment in the polychaeteOphryotrocha labronica

“…In particular, if an external stimulus constitutes a predictive cue of the impending change or degradation of offspring conditions ['adaptive matching' between maternal and offspring environments (Uller et al, 2013)], mothers may be able to buffer the likely negative impact of environmental variation on offspring performance by contributing to the interaction between offspring environment and phenotype. In most studies, the evolution of adaptive trans-generational plasticity has been documented when similar environmental conditions persist across generations, as scenarios where offspring were more likely to encounter the same environment as their mothers were usually considered (for example, early stages of offspring development) (Galloway and Etterson, 2007;Monaghan, 2008;Mousseau and Fox, 1998b;Sultan et al, 2009;Uller et al, 2013). However, in our study, we measured offspring responses in adult individuals, which can take up to 1 month to reach adulthood from the spawning of the eggs (Massamba-N'Siala et al, 2011).…”

Mediation of seed provisioning in the transmission of environmental maternal effects in Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton)

“…Previous studies have also shown that the maternal abiotic environment can modulate seedling biomass allocation (Hovenden et al, 2008;Sultan et al, 2009). Warmer maternal environments have been found to produce offspring with greater RSR in a grass species (Hovenden et al, 2008).…”

“…The two maternal environments of the present study not only differed, however, in the temperature regime but also had extremely different edaphic properties (Cendán et al, 2012), with the warmer environment also having the best quality soils. According to this, one could expect that seedlings coming from the stressful environment would benefit from prioritizing allocation to roots rather than to shoots in order to favour the uptake of the limited edaphic resources of this environment (Moles and Westoby, 2006;Sultan et al, 2009), whereas those coming from the favourable environment would benefit from prioritizing the growth of the aerial part in order to increase competitive ability for light (Galloway and Etterson, 2007). The observed results, however, point in the opposite direction.…”

“…The observed results, however, point in the opposite direction. Different species, even closely related congeners, are known to show different transgenerational plasticity in response to a particular maternal environment stress, and these plastic responses do not always show an adaptive value (Sultan et al, 2009). Further studies, controlling the environmental factors responsible of the maternal stress and using reciprocal cross transplanting experiments, are needed to explore the adaptive value of these transgenerational responses in this pine species.…”

Evolutionary ecology along invasion fronts of the annual grass Aegilops triuncialis

“…Therefore, if genetic bottlenecks limit an invading species' ability for local adaptive genetic differentiation, then phenotypic plasticity may facilitate those invasions by buffering against environmental stress (Rice and Mack 1991a;Ghalambor et al 2007). In addition to the more commonly considered within-generation adaptive plasticity, maternal environmental effects or transgenerational plasticity may further increase the capacity of a species to adapt to new habitats and thus facilitate invasive spread (Sultan et al 2009;Dyer et al 2010). Despite research focused on the role of genetic differentiation and plasticity of plant invaders at regional scales and across habitats (Rice and Mack 1991b;Sakai et al 2001;Sexton et al 2002), more information is needed concerning the evolutionary dynamics of invasive populations at the very local spatial scale (Parker et al 2003;Sexton et al 2009).…”