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Life-History Traits Evolved Jointly with Climatic Niche and Disturbance Regime in the Genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae)
- Source :
- American Naturalist, American Naturalist, University of Chicago Press, 2018, 191 (2), pp.220-234. ⟨10.1086/695283⟩, The American Naturalist, The American Naturalist, 2018, 191 (2), pp.220-234. ⟨10.1086/695283⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- University of Chicago Press, 2018.
-
Abstract
- International audience; Organisms have evolved a diversity of life-history strategies to cope with variation in their environment. Persistence as adults and/or seeds across recruitment events allows species to dampen the effects of environmental fluctuations. The evolution of life cycles with overlapping generations should thus permit the colonization of environments with uncertain recruitment. We tested this hypothesis in Leucadendron (Proteaceae), a genus with high functional diversity native to fire-prone habitats in the South African fynbos. We analyzed the joint evolution of life-history traits (adult survival and seed-bank strategies) and ecological niches (climate and fire regime), using comparative methods and accounting for various sources of uncertainty. In the fynbos, species with canopy seed banks that are unable to survive fire as adults display nonoverlapping generations. In contrast, resprouters with an underground seed bank may be less threatened by extreme climatic events and fire intervals, given their iteroparity and long-lasting seed bank. Life cycles with nonoverlapping generations indeed jointly evolved with niches with less exposure to frost but not with those with less exposure to drought. Canopy seed banks jointly evolved with niches with more predictable fire return, compared to underground seed banks. The evolution of extraordinary functional diversity among fynbos plants thus reflects, at least in part, the diversity of both climates and fire regimes in this region.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Climate
comparative analyses
Niche
niche evolution
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Fires
Proteaceae
Life history theory
seed bank
South Africa
03 medical and health sciences
functional traits
Life History Traits
bet hedging
Ecosystem
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Semelparity and iteroparity
Ecological niche
Models, Genetic
Fire regime
Ecology
food and beverages
[SDV.BV.BOT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology/Botanics
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Leucadendron
030104 developmental biology
Threatened species
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
[SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Bioclimatology
fire
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15375323 and 00030147
- Volume :
- 191
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The American Naturalist
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....af8b280ce391d43df1b455722f8d92a2