Mating system and historical climate conditions affect population mean seed mass: Evidence for adaptation and a new component of the selfing syndrome in Clarkia

Abstract

1. The evolution of seed size may be influenced by intrinsic attributes of populations, such as mating system and extrinsic factors, such as climate. Several hypotheses

Phenological Sensitivities to Climate Are Similar in Two Clarkia Congeners: Indirect Evidence for Facilitation, Convergence, Niche Conservatism, or Genetic Constraints

“…When both kinds of parameters are included as explanatory variables in linear models designed to predict the DOY of flowering, the sensitivity of DOY to climate normals reflects a combination of local adaptation and plastic responses to spatial variation in chronic climatic conditions, while phenological responsiveness to interannual variation is due primarily or wholly to plastic responses to short-term local conditions. Other investigators have used this approach, including Mazer et al's (2020) study of seed size variation in Clarkia; Pearson et al's (2021) investigation of Eschscholzia californica (California Poppy; Papaveraceae), and Parker's (2021) study of five species of Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae) and Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae).…”

“…Closely related species that share pollinators and that exhibit overlapping geographic distributions may be expected to evolve to differ in mean flowering time when exposed to the same climatic conditions as a result of divergent natural selection favoring genotypes that avoid direct competition for pollinators or that minimize heterospecific pollen transfer (Rathcke and Lacey 1985;Fenner 1998). In such cases, divergent flowering times would contribute to reproductive isolation, reducing the potential for hybridization and/ or heterospecific pollination, both of which may reduce seed production or quality (Morales and Traveset 2008;Moreira-Herna´ndez and Muchhala 2019;Ashman and Arceo-Go´mez 2013;Arceo-Go´mez et al 2019), particularly when heterospecific pollen transfer occurs between close relatives (Streher et al 2020 climatic conditions, both the magnitude and the direction of these sensitivities may differ within or between species (Mazer et al 2020).…”

Evolution of seed mass associated with mating systems in multiple plant families

“…Summary of an analysis of variance for mating systems and growth forms both attributes might increase the ability for colonization (Mazer et al, 2020). This is because selfing plants can reproduce without mates or pollinators (Baker, 1955;Darwin, 1876), and smaller seeds are expected to disperse farther than larger ones (Greene & Johnson, 1993;Tamme et al, 2014).…”

Trade‐off drives Pareto optimality of within‐ and among‐year emergence timing in response to increasing aridity

“…Meanwhile, deviations of climate variables from long-term means, or "anomalies," can cause plastic shifts in plant traits including phenology, reproductive output, and seed mass (Bontrager & Angert, 2016;Mazer et al, 2020;Munson & Sher, 2015). Therefore, for each site we quantified: (a) historical mean aridity; (b) the deviation of aridity in the year of seed collection from the historical mean.…”