When can stress facilitate divergence by altering time to flowering?

ABSTRACT: Stressors and heterogeneity are ubiquitous features of natural environments, and theory suggests that when environmental qualities alter flowering schedules through phenotypic plasticity, assortative mating can result that promotes evolutionary divergence. Therefore, it is important to determine whether common ecological stressors induce similar changes in flowering time. We review previous studies to determine whether two important stressors, water restriction and herbivory, induce consistent flowering time responses among species; for example, how often do water restriction and herbivory both delay flowering? We focus on the direction of change in flowering time, which affects the potential for divergence in heterogeneous environments. We also tested whether these stressors influenced ti

SUBMITTER: Jordan CY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4717339 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature