Adaptation to a latitudinal thermal gradient within a widespread copepod species: the contributions of genetic divergence and phenotypic plasticity.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how populations adapt to heterogeneous thermal regimes is essential for comprehending how latitudinal gradients in species diversification are formed, and how taxa will respond to ongoing climate change. Adaptation can occur by innate genetic factors, by phenotypic plasticity, or by a combination of both mechanisms. Yet, the relative contribution of such mechanisms to large-scale latitudinal gradients of thermal tolerance across conspecific populations remains unclear. We examine thermal performance in 11 populations of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus, ranging from Baja California Sur (Mexico) to British Columbia (Canada). Common garden experiments show that survivorship to acute heat-stress differs between populations (by up to 3.8°C in LD₅₀ v

SUBMITTER: Pereira RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5413927 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature