Increased Floral Divergence in Sympatric Monkeyflowers

Grossenbacher, Dena L.; Whittall, Justen B.

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01306.x

Cited by 94 publications

(126 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Perhaps due to this “harsher” shared environment, M. mephiticus and M. leptaleus had similar vegetative trait values (Figure 1). However, they had more distinctive floral traits (Figure 2), consistent with a macroecological study showing greater floral divergence in sympatric sister species in Mimulus (Grossenbacher & Whittall, 2011). We observed the opposite pattern of trait convergence in the M. guttatus – M. moschatus pair, perhaps due to less restrictive environmental conditions but a limited pollinator pool.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Trait dimensionality and population choice alter estimates of phenotypic dissimilarity

Carscadden

Cadotte

Gilbert

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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The ecological niche is a multi‐dimensional concept including aspects of resource use, environmental tolerance, and interspecific interactions, and the degree to which niches overlap is central to many ecological questions. Plant phenotypic traits are increasingly used as surrogates of species niches, but we lack an understanding of how key sampling decisions affect our ability to capture phenotypic differences among species. Using trait data of ecologically distinct monkeyflower (Mimulus) congeners, we employed linear discriminant analysis to determine how (1) dimensionality (the number and type of traits) and (2) variation within species influence how well measured traits reflect phenotypic differences among species. We conducted analyses using vegetative and floral traits in different combinations of up to 13 traits and compared the performance of commonly used functional traits such as specific leaf area against other morphological traits. We tested the importance of intraspecific variation by assessing how population choice changed our ability to discriminate species. Neither using key functional traits nor sampling across plant functions and organs maximized species discrimination. When using few traits, vegetative traits performed better than combinations of vegetative and floral traits or floral traits alone. Overall, including more traits increased our ability to detect phenotypic differences among species. Population choice and the number of traits used had comparable impacts on discriminating species. We addressed methodological challenges that have undermined cross‐study comparability of trait‐based approaches. Our results emphasize the importance of sampling among‐population trait variation and suggest that a high‐dimensional approach may best capture phenotypic variation among species with distinct niches.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Trait dimensionality and population choice alter estimates of phenotypic dissimilarity

Carscadden

Cadotte

Gilbert

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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“…This is precisely the pattern detected in Drosophila (Coyne & Orr, 1989). There have been a number of studies in plants investigating this pattern, or similar patterns (Table 3), with the two most comprehensive studies finding evidence of reinforcement (Van der Niet et al, 2006;Grossenbacher & Whittall, 2011). Unfortunately, there are major caveats in the comparative studies (Table 3), such as approximate and incomplete measurements of RI, which creates uncertainty in the importance of reinforcement in plant speciation.…”

Section: Comparative Studiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…A second study, in the genus Mimulus, found that sympatric sister species had greater floral morphological divergence than allopatric species pairs, whereas vegetative morphological divergence did not differ (Grossenbacher & Whittall, 2011). Instead of using post-zygotic RI as a control for the rate of divergence, this study utilized vegetative divergence.…”

Section: Comparative Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reinforcement in plants

2013

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SummaryA major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand how diverging populations become species. The evolution of reproductive isolation (RI) halts the genomic homogenization caused by gene flow and recombination, and enables differentiation and local adaptations to become fixed between newly forming species. Selection can favor the strengthening of RI through a process termed reinforcement. Reinforcement occurs when selection favors traits that decrease mating between two incipient species in response to costly mating or the production of maladapted hybrids. Although this process has been investigated more frequently in animals, there is also evidence of reinforcement in plants. There are three strategies for the investigation of the process of reinforcement: case studies of species or diverging taxa; experimental evolution studies; and comparative studies. Here, I discuss how all three strategies find evidence consistent with reinforcement occurring in plants. I focus largely on case studies, and use research on Phlox drummondii to illustrate the importance of testing alternative hypotheses. Although the existing evidence suggests that reinforcement can occur, further investigations, particularly using largescale comparative studies, are needed to determine the importance of reinforcement in plant speciation.

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“…Although convincing examples of shifts from selfing to outcrossing strategies are lacking, the dichotomy between those conditions may be simplistic (Barrett 2013); mixed mating systems are increasingly identified from genetic estimates of outcrossing rates (Goodwillie et al 2005), even in instances in which late floral development indicates early self-pollination, as in some small-flowered taxa of Collinsia (Armbruster et al 2002, Kalisz et al 2012. In any case, shifts between large-flowered and small-flowered states are common in CA-FP angiosperms, e.g., Collinsia (Armbruster et al 2002, Mimulus sensu lato (Grossenbacher & Whittall 2011), and Leptosiphon (Goodwillie 1999), and sympatry between sister taxa with distinct floral sizes is often evident. In Leptosiphon, phylogenetic studies indicated such highly convergent evolution of small flowered, self-fertilizing taxa that some had been mistakenly treated as conspecific (Goodwillie 1999).…”

Section: Evolution Of Reproductive Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of Plant Diversity in the California Floristic Province

Baldwin

2014

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.

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Recent biogeographic and evolutionary studies have led to improved understanding of the origins of exceptionally high plant diversity in the California Floristic Province (CA-FP). Spatial analyses of Californian plant diversity and endemism reinforce the importance of geographically isolated areas of high topographic and edaphic complexity as floristic hot spots, in which the relative influence of factors promoting evolutionary divergence and buffering of lineages against extinction has gained increased attention. Molecular phylogenetic studies spanning the flora indicate that immediate sources of CA-FP lineages bearing endemic species diversity have been mostly within North America-especially within the west and southwest-even for groups of north temperate affinity, and that most diversification of extant lineages in the CA-FP has occurred since the mid-Miocene, with the transition toward summer-drying. Process-focused studies continue to implicate environmental heterogeneity at local or broad geographic scales in evolutionary divergence within the CA-FP, often associated with reproductive or life-history shifts or sometimes hybridization.

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Increased Floral Divergence in Sympatric Monkeyflowers

Cited by 94 publications

References 55 publications

Trait dimensionality and population choice alter estimates of phenotypic dissimilarity

Trait dimensionality and population choice alter estimates of phenotypic dissimilarity

Reinforcement in plants

Origins of Plant Diversity in the California Floristic Province

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