Abstract
Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds. We identified which plastic responses were adaptive using recombinant inbred lines in a field manipulation of geographic location (Kentucky, KY; Rhode Island, RI), maternal photoperiod (14-h and 10-h days), and season of dispersal (June and November). Transgressive segregation created novel genotypes that had either higher fitness or lower fitness in certain environments than either parent. Natural selection on germination timing and its variation explained 72% of the variance in fitness among genotypes in KY, 30% in June-dispersed seeds in RI, but only 4% in November-dispersed seeds in RI. Therefore, natural selection on germination timing is an extremely efficient sieve that can determine which genotypes can persist in some locations, and its efficiency is geographically variable and depends on other aspects of life history. We found no evidence for adaptive responses to maternal photoperiod during seed maturation. We did find adaptive plasticity to season of seed dispersal in RI. Seeds dispersed in June postponed germination, which was adaptive, while seeds dispersed in November accelerated germination, which was also adaptive. We also found maladaptive plasticity to geographic location for seeds dispersed in June, such that seeds dispersed in KY germinated much sooner than the optimum time. Consequently, bet hedging in germination timing was favorable in KY; genotypes with more variation in germination timing had higher fitness because greater variation was associated with postponed germination. Selection on germination timing varied across geographic location, indicating that germination timing can be a critical stage in the establishment of genotypes in new locations. The rate of evolution of germination timing may therefore strongly influence the rate at which species can expand their range.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Transgressive segregation produced genotypes with higher or lower fitness than either parent in certain environments.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thalianae0 - Outcome
- fitnesse1
- Qualifier
- certain environmentse1
- Comparator
- either parente1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“Transgressive segregation created novel genotypes that had either higher fitness or lower fitness in certain environments than either parent”
Claim · model-written summary
Natural selection on germination timing explained 72% of fitness variance among genotypes in Kentucky.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Outcome
- variance in fitnesse2
- Value
- 72%e2
- Setting
- KYe2
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e2“explained 72% of the variance in fitness among genotypes in KY”
Claim · model-written summary
Natural selection on germination timing explained 30% of fitness variance in June-dispersed seeds in Rhode Island.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- June-dispersed seedse3
- Outcome
- variance in fitnesse2
- Value
- 30%e3
- Setting
- RIe3
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e2“explained 72% of the variance in fitness among genotypes in KY”
e3“30% in June-dispersed seeds in RI”
Claim · model-written summary
Natural selection on germination timing explained only 4% of fitness variance in November-dispersed seeds in Rhode Island.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- November-dispersed seedse4
- Outcome
- variance in fitnesse2
- Value
- 4%e4
- Setting
- RIe4
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e2“explained 72% of the variance in fitness among genotypes in KY”
e4“only 4% in November-dispersed seeds in RI”
Claim · model-written summary
Maternal photoperiod (14-h versus 10-h days) shows no evidence of adaptive effects during seed maturation.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- maternal photoperiode5
- Outcome
- adaptive responsese5
- Direction
- no_changeinferrede5
- Comparator
- 10-h dayse6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e5“We found no evidence for adaptive responses to maternal photoperiod during seed maturation”
e6“maternal photoperiod (14-h and 10-h days)”
Claim · model-written summary
Seeds dispersed in June postpone germination adaptively in Rhode Island.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- Seeds dispersed in Junee1
- Outcome
- germinatione1
- Direction
- postponede1
- Setting
- RIe2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“Seeds dispersed in June postponed germination, which was adaptive”
e2“adaptive plasticity to season of seed dispersal in RI”
Claim · model-written summary
Seeds dispersed in November accelerate germination adaptively in Rhode Island.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- seeds dispersed in Novembere1
- Outcome
- germinatione1
- Direction
- acceleratede1
- Setting
- RIe2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“seeds dispersed in November accelerated germination, which was also adaptive”
e2“adaptive plasticity to season of seed dispersal in RI”
Claim · model-written summary
Maladaptive plasticity to geographic location makes June-dispersed seeds in Kentucky germinate much sooner than the optimum time.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- geographic locatione1
- Outcome
- germinatede1
- Direction
- much soonere1
- Comparator
- optimum timee1
- Setting
- KYe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“We also found maladaptive plasticity to geographic location for seeds dispersed in June, such that seeds dispersed in KY germinated much sooner than the optimum time”
Claim · model-written summary
Bet hedging in germination timing is favourable in Kentucky.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Outcome
- bet hedging in germination timinge1
- Setting
- KYe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“bet hedging in germination timing was favorable in KY”
Claim · model-written summary
Genotypes with more variation in germination timing have higher fitness.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Material
- genotypese1
- Outcome
- fitnesse1
- Direction
- highere1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“genotypes with more variation in germination timing had higher fitness”
Claim · model-written summary
Greater variation in germination timing is associated with postponed germination, which explains the higher fitness.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Outcome
- fitnesse1
- Qualifier
- greater variation was associated with postponed germinatione2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“genotypes with more variation in germination timing had higher fitness”
e2“greater variation was associated with postponed germination”
Claim · model-written summary
Selection on germination timing varies across geographic location.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae0
- Treatment
- geographic locatione1
- Outcome
- Selection on germination timinge1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Germination timing of Arabidopsis thaliana displays strong plasticity to geographic location and seasonal conditions experienced by seeds”
e1“Selection on germination timing varied across geographic location”
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See all 6 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.