Undergraduate research opportunities in plant evolutionary ecology

Spring 2019

Interested in gaining research experience? Need directed research credits to graduate? Apply for a research position in the Moeller Lab!

Seeking research volunteers or directed research students to work 6-10 hours per week during Spring 2019

The Moeller Lab seeks motivated undergraduate(s) for research position(s) for Spring 2019. Your main project will be investigating rapid evolution in a California annual plant, Clarkia xantiana, in response to the California mega-drought, with potential for independent student-led projects after the first semester. For a synthesis of the first portion of the project, see the attached poster, prepared by an undergraduate researcher in the Moeller Lab. Tasks will include:

● Data collection on key plant traits relating to water use ● Greenhouse work and plant maintenance ● Processing of plant and seed samples

Interested in applying? Contact John Benning at jbenning@umn.edu

Please attach a copy of your CV/resume (including undergraduate courses taken) and a short paragraph describing your research interests and why you are interested in applying.

Learn more at moellerlab.wordpress.com

THE FAST AND THE FITTEST:

EXPLORING RAPID EVOLUTION

IN CLARKIA XANTIANA

DISCUSSION GOING FORWARD SUMMARY

BACKGROUND METHODS

RESULTS

Alexai Faulkner,* John Benning** & David Moeller***

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities: Departments of Plant & Microbial Biology and Ecology, Evolution & Behavior

• Climates are changing worldwide

• Plants must migrate or adapt to novel conditions 1,2

• Adaptive evolution can occur over short timescales 3,4,5,6

• Can use current climatic anomalies to predict future responses

• California megadrought, most severe in history (2012-2017) 7

➢ Major selective event indicative of future climates

• Gaps in knowledge: which traits will evolve and how fast

• Clarkia xantiana: winter annual endemic to S. California foothills

Resurrection study: cohorts from before and after a selective event are grown together & compared for traits related to selective event 8

• We found evidence of rapid evolution

➢ Varied among populations

• Most arid site (S22) evolved more rapid phenology

REFERENCES: 1. Walther, G., Post, E., Convey, P., Menzel, A., Parmesan, C., Beebee, T., Fromentin, J., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Bairlein, F. (2002). Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416, 389-395. 2. Jump, A. & Penuelas, J. (2005). Running to stand still: adaptation and the

response of plants to rapid climate change. Ecology Letters 8, 1010-1020. 3. Cody, M. & Overton, J. (1996). Short-term evolution of reduced dispersal in island plant populations. Journal of Ecology 84, 53-61. 4. Hairston, N. Jr., Lampert, W., Cáceres, C., Holtmeier, C., Weider, L., Gaedke, U.,

Fischer, J., Fox, J., Post, D. (1999). Lake ecosystems: Rapid evolution revealed by dormant eggs. Nature 401, 446. 5. Parmesan, C. (2006). Ecological and evolutionary responses to recent climate change. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 37, 637-669. 6. Franks, S., Sim, S.,

Weis, A. (2007). Rapid Evolution of flowering time by an annual plant in response to climate fluctuation. PNAS 104, 1278-1282. 7. California Department of Water Resources. (2015). California’s Most Significant Droughts: Comparing Historical and Recent Conditions. California Departmentof Water Resources. 59-80. 8. Etterson, J., Franks, S., Mazer, S., Shaw, R., Gorden, N., Schneider, H., Weber, J., Winkler, K., Weis, A. (2016). Project Baseline: An unprecedented resource to study plant evolution across space and time. American Journal of Botany 103, 164-173.

• Following up with second larger study with pedigreed offspring of these plants (N = 1200)

• Manipulating soil moisture to directly test adaptive significance of these traits

• Will also measure root traits and photosynthetic rate

• Experiment accounts for maternal environmental effects

• Future Questions:

➢ Are post-drought cohorts better ableto handle water stress?

➢ How heritable are these traits?

➢ Do populations possess different amounts of genetic variation for these traits?

Measured population trait distributions• Relative growth rate (RGR)• Flowering phenology• Specific leaf area (SLA)

3 populations sampled

Seeds from beforeand after drought

• How do native plants evolve in response to climatic anomalies?

• Three populations of Clarkia xantianawere sampled

➢ Timepoints before and after the recent California megadrought

• Grown together in a greenhouse

• Measured for traits possibly related to drought adaptation

➢ Relative growth rate (RGR)

➢ Flowering phenology

➢ Specific leaf area (SLA)

• Most arid site evolved more rapidphenology and traits differed among sites

*Undergraduate Researcher, **Graduate Mentor, ***Principal Investigator

Special thanks to Zachary Radford, Amanda Gorton, Adam Kostanecki, my supportive family, the Office of Undergraduate Research and the UROP program

➢ Post-droughtpopulation bloomed on

average 3 days sooner

• Counterintuitively,SLA was highestin the most arid site

We used ANOVA to test the effects of population, year, and their interaction on phenology, relative growth rate, and specific leaf area. We followed ANOVA with pairwise contrasts between populations and years when terms were significant, using Tukey’s HSD tests. Significant differences (P < 0.05) between populations are indicated with letters atop plots; significant differences between years (within populations) are highlighted with a grey box.

Most arid site evolved more rapid phenology

Distribution of phenology before and after drought in S22

Specific Leaf Area and Relative Growth Rate varied significantly among populations but not years

• RGR tended to increase in two post-drought populations

Overall, these trends suggest a more rapid and less conservative strategy in arid conditions.

N = 360