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Genetic variation and the potential response to selection on leaf traits after habitat degradation in a long-lived cycad

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Abstract

Rapid evolution may be common in human-dominated landscapes where environmental changes are severe. We used phenotypic selection analyses and a marker-based method to estimate genetic variances and covariances to predict the potential response to selection in populations of a long-lived cycad recently exposed to drastic environmental changes. Patterns of selection in adult fecundity showed that different traits were under directional selection in subpopulations from native-undisturbed habitats and the novel degraded-forest habitat. Plants from a native-habitat subpopulation tend to maximize fitness through larger leaf area or smaller specific leaf area (SLA). In contrast, larger leaf production increased fitness in a degraded-habitat subpopulation, and canopy openness appears to be a major agent of selection for this trait. Leaf production and SLA showed significant additive genetic variance and no genetic trade-offs with examined traits, suggesting that these traits can respond to selection. Directional selection coefficients and heritability values were large, therefore significant phenotypic changes between subpopulations in few generations are possible. These results suggest that recent environmental change can result in strong directional selection in subpopulations of this cycad, and that these subpopulations have the potential to diverge at the genetic level in leaf traits after anthropogenic habitat degradation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the personnel at Corcovado National Park (Costa Rica) for assistance in the field. Genetic analyses were carried out at Dr. Mohamed Noor (Lousiana State University, USA) and Dr. Loren Rieseberg (Indiana University, USA) labs, and we thank all the people in these labs for their help. CLG thanks all members in the dissertation committee and especially Dr. Johanna Schmitt for their constant support during this research. Funding for the project was provided by the University of New Orleans, The Cycad Society and Montgomery Botanical Center (USA).

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  1. Biology Institute, Universidad de Antioquia, AA 1226, Medellín, Colombia

    Cristina Lopez-Gallego

  2. University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Cristina Lopez-Gallego & Pamela O’Neil

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  1. Cristina Lopez-Gallego
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  2. Pamela O’Neil
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Correspondence to Cristina Lopez-Gallego.

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Lopez-Gallego, C., O’Neil, P. Genetic variation and the potential response to selection on leaf traits after habitat degradation in a long-lived cycad. Evol Ecol 28, 775–791 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9704-0

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