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Significance Studying contemporary evolution requires us to distinguish between genotype frequency changes and plastic responses. By revisiting a “classic” case study in ecological genetics (Avena barbata in California), we document… Click to show full abstract
Significance Studying contemporary evolution requires us to distinguish between genotype frequency changes and plastic responses. By revisiting a “classic” case study in ecological genetics (Avena barbata in California), we document contemporary evolution at the genetic level over a large geographic scale. Changes in frequency and range of the genotypes were as predicted by fitness differences in reciprocal transplants. Moreover, A. barbata is an introduced species in California, and our results suggest that the order in which genotypes were introduced has shaped the trajectory of contemporary evolution. While recombination among multiple introduced genotypes has occurred, much of the evolutionary change appears to have occurred through earlier colonists being displaced by better adapted but later arriving genotypes.
Journal Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Year Published: 2022
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