Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer.

ABSTRACT: Recent work has demonstrated that evolutionary processes shape ecological dynamics on relatively short timescales (eco-evolutionary dynamics), but demonstrating these effects at large spatial scales in natural landscapes has proven difficult. We used empirical studies and modeling to investigate how selective pressures from fire and predispersal seed predation affect the evolution of serotiny, an ecologically important trait. Serotiny is a highly heritable key reproductive trait in Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta subsp. latifolia), a conifer that dominates millions of hectares in western North America. In these forests, the frequency of serotiny determines postfire seedling density with corresponding community- and ecosystem-level effects. We found that serotinous individuals

SUBMITTER: Talluto MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4084486 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature