What drivers phenotypic divergence in Leymus chinensis (Poaceae) on large-scale gradient, climate or genetic differentiation?

ABSTRACT: Elucidating the driving factors among-population divergence is an important task in evolutionary biology, however the relative contribution from natural selection and neutral genetic differentiation has been less debated. A manipulation experiment was conducted to examine whether the phenotypic divergence of Leymus chinensis depended on climate variations or genetic differentiations at 18 wild sites along a longitudinal gradient from 114 to 124°E in northeast China and at common garden condition of transplantation. Demographical, morphological and physiological phenotypes of 18 L. chinensis populations exhibited significant divergence along the gradient, but these divergent variations narrowed significantly at the transplantation. Moreover, most of the phenotypes were significantly correla

SUBMITTER: Yuan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4872539 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature