Solidago altissima differs with respect to ploidy frequency and clinal variation across the prairie‐forest biome border in Minnesota

Abstract

Our data show that diploids have diverged genetically to a greater extent than polyploids along the environmental clines sampled in this study. Moreover, different environments favor phenotypic convergence over divergence among cytotypes for some traits. Differences in ploidy frequency and phenotypic divergence among cytotypes across gradients of temperature and precipitation are important considerations for restoration in an age of climate change.

Drift happens: Molecular genetic diversity and differentiation among populations of jewelweed (Impatiens capensis Meerb.) reflect fragmentation of floodplain forests

“…Although I. capensis is diploid, about half of floodplain trees and herbs studied so far are polyploid (Bennett & Leitch, 2012). There is evidence that polyploids respond slower to selection than diploids (Mayrose et al, 2011;Routley & Husband, 2005), potentially limiting their capacity to adapt to varied environments (Etterson, Toczydlowski, Winkler, Kirschbaum, & McAulay, 2016). Polyploids may initially lose genetic variation more slowly than diploids but struggle comparatively to adapt to shifting selective pressures.…”

Rapid establishment of a flowering cline in Medicago polymorpha after invasion of North America

“…Broadscale geographical gradients in environmental conditions can select for clinal adaptation in phenology, which allows an organism to time the progression of life stages to optimize success under local seasonal conditions (Donohue, 2017). Rapid formation of a phenotypic latitudinal cline has been demonstrated for various traits in successful invaders, including wing size in Drosophila subobscura (Gilchrist, Huey, & Serra, ; Huey, Gilchrist, Carlson, Berrigan, & Serra, ), plant size in the annual weed Impatiens glanduliferia (Kollmann & Bañuelos, ; flowering time, plant height and biomass, branch and leaf number in Solidago altissima (late goldenrod) (Etterson, Toczydlowski, Winkler, Kirschbaum, & McAulay, ), plant size in Eschscholzia californica (California poppy) (Leger & Rice, ), fitness attributes in Raphanus sativus (California wild radish) (Ridley & Ellstrand, ) and plant size in yellow starthistle ( Centaurea solstitalis , Barker et al., ). However, despite the importance of the rapid evolution of clinal variation in phenology to biological invasions, few studies have addressed the origins of variation in phenology clines in the invaded range.…”

Evolutionary insights from studies of geographic variation: Contemporary variation and looking to the future

“…Th ey found that rangelimiting factors diff ered spatially, with precipitation-limited reproductive output on the western (and perhaps southern) edges of the range, and increased selfi ng with high temperatures at the southern edge of the range, but with no apparent climate-driven limitations at the eastern or northern borders of the range. Etterson et al (2016b) next report on a common garden study with a watering treatment that included 14 populations of Solidago altissima that were sampled across a major ecotone border between prairie and forest biomes and that encompass ploidy variation (diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploids). One of the major fi ndings of this work is that diploids have diverged genetically to a greater extent than polyploids across latitudinal and longitudinal gradients and that clinal trends in phenology and phenotype are not simply a function of phenotypic plasticity in response to drought.…”