Recent warming reduces the reproductive advantage of large size and contributes to evolutionary downsizing in nature.

ABSTRACT: Body size is a key functional trait that is predicted to decline under warming. Warming is known to cause size declines via phenotypic plasticity, but evolutionary responses of body size to warming are poorly understood. To test for warming-induced evolutionary responses of body size and growth rates, we used populations of mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) recently established (less than 100 years) from a common source across a strong thermal gradient (19-33°C) created by geothermal springs. Each spring is remarkably stable in temperature and is virtually closed to gene flow from other thermal environments. Field surveys show that with increasing site temperature, body size distributions become smaller and the reproductive advantage of larger body size decreases. After common rearing

SUBMITTER: Fryxell DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7341922 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature