The evolutionary responses of life‐history strategies to climatic variability in flowering plants

Abstract

Summary The evolution of annual or perennial strategies in flowering plants likely depends on a broad array of temperature and precipitation variables. Previous documented climate life‐history correlations in explicit phylogenetic frameworks have been limited to certain clades and geographic regions. To gain insights which generalize to multiple lineages we employ a multi‐clade approach analyzing 32 groups of angiosperms across eight climatic variables. We utilize a recently developed method that accounts for the joint evolution of continuous and discrete traits to evaluate two hypotheses: annuals tend to evolve in highly seasonal regions prone to extreme heat and drought; and annuals tend to have faster rates of climatic niche evolution than perennials. We find that temperature, particularly highest temperature of the warmest month, is the most consistent climatic factor influencing the evolution of annual strategy in flowering plants. Unexpectedly, we do not find significant differences in rates of climatic niche evolution between perennial and annual lineages. We propose that annuals are consistently favored in areas prone to extreme heat due to their ability to escape heat stress as seeds, but they tend to be outcompeted by perennials in regions where extreme heat is uncommon or nonexistent.

Life history traits mediate elevational adaptation in a perennial alpine plant

“…Conversely, at high elevation, a life cycle characterized by reduced annual reproduction and allocation of resources to self-maintenance constitutes a better strategy under a short growing season and limited resources (Childs et al ., 2010; Johnstons & Pickering, 2004; Milla et al ., 2009). In fact, the alternative life history strategies expressed by our two genotypes at contrasting elevations are in line with observed differences in species occurring along elevation gradients, where short lived species with high reproductive investment are typical at lower elevations and long lived species with enhanced offspring quality and bet hedging strategies predominate at high elevation (Boyko et al ., 2023; Laiolo & Obeso, 2017).…”

“…We interpret this evidence as a trade-off triggered by the environmental conditions in the low elevation environment which causes high elevation plants to exceeded allocation of resources to reproduction, thus compromising their physiological ability to survive the following winter. In line with other species occurring along elevational gradients, size in D. carthusianorum is thus better interpreted as a divergent phenotypic trait exhibiting spatially plastic variation that feedbacks on key fitness components rather than a fitness proxy per se (Bonser & Aarsen, 2009; Cheplick, 2020; Boyko et al ., 2023; Halbritter et al ., 2018; Körner 2003, Midolo et al, 2020). Overall, our results suggest that adaptive genetic variation regulating trade-offs between fitness components of genotypes mediate adaptation in D. carthusianorum .…”

“…The copyright holder for this this version posted October 20, 2023. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.17.562199 doi: bioRxiv preprint plants and can be exacerbated under adverse environmental conditions (Stearns, 1992;Acerenza, 2016;Hamann et al, 2021;von Euler et al, 2012). Hence, contrasting selection pressures in different environments can lead to the evolution of ecotypes expressing divergent strategies (Stearns, 1992;Childs et al, 2010: Friedman et al, 2020Boyko et al, 2023). Characterizing the adaptive role of life history traits requires long-term field experiments where fitness is modelled in an integrative framework to assess stage-specific contributions.…”

Resource availability and disturbance frequency shape evolution of plant life forms in Neotropical habitats

“…The traditional plant life form classification (Raunkiaer, 1934) has been commonly used as a proxy to plant strategies, allowing to test hypotheses regarding the relationship between habitats and plant traits (Schulze, 1982;Irl et al, 2020;Shary et al, 2020;Boyko et al, 2023). This classification summarizes structural and functional traits that indicate habitat preferences and ecological and resistance plant strategies.…”

“…Associations between plant life forms and habitats with varying resource availabilities and disturbance intensity have also been observed at the macroevolutionary scale. For instance, a recent multi-clade analysis revealed that annual life forms more often evolve in habitats prone to extreme heat (Boyko et al, 2023). Similarly, the evolution of annual life forms among Oenothera species is associated with the occupation of arid regions (Evans et al, 2005).…”