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Phenotypic plasticity in age and size at maturity and its effects on the integrated phenotypic expressions of life history traits of Cardamine flexuosa (Cruciferae)
Author(s) -
Kudoh H.,
Ishiguri Y.,
Kawano S.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1996.9050541.x
Subject(s) - biology , phenotypic plasticity , vernalization , maturity (psychological) , phenology , life history theory , photoperiodism , trait , facultative , botany , life history , ecology , psychology , developmental psychology , computer science , programming language
We analyzed variation in phenotypic plasticity of life history traits between two Cardamine flexuosa populations based on differences in plasticity of age and size at maturity. C. flexuosa (Cruciferae) is a facultative, vernalization‐sensitive, long‐day annual, and its phenology and the phenotypic expressions of many life history traits are largely controlled by photoperiod and vernalization in natural populations. We used plants from two populations which differed in their responses to chilling and photoperiod treatments. The timing of developmental processes was changed by controlling temperature and photoperiod regimes in growth chambers. Plasticity in size at maturity was analyzed as changes in a growth trajectory using two parameters, age at maturity (Δ t ) and growth rate ( k ). Both traits showed plasticity, but differences between the populations were found mostly for Δ t . Distinctive differences in size at maturity of individuals in the two populations were mainly due to different amounts of plasticity in Δ t . Variations in plasticity of nine other life history traits and their associations to age and size at maturity were also analyzed. Variation for eight of the traits can be described, at least in part, as a function of age and size at maturity for both populations, and most of the variation in the total number of seeds was explained by age and size at maturity. Only age at maturity had any effect on changes in resource allocation. The nine life history traits were integrated through associated character expressions with age and size at maturity. Changes in the association between a trait and age and/or size at maturity were rather conservative compared to changes in the plasticity of a trait between the two populations. Associations with age and size at maturity are mostly explicable in terms of inherent relationships in the developmental processes, and they may limit the ecological range expansion and the adaptive evolution of plasticity in C. flexuosa . The negative correlation between reproductive allocation and age at maturity can be a cost of delaying maturation in C. flexuosa .