Sublethal effects of metal toxicity and the measure of plant fitness in ecotoxicological experiments.

Anthropogenic pollution is a major driver of global environmental change. To be properly addressed, the study of the impact of pollutants must consider both lethal effects and sublethal effects on individual fitness. However, measuring fitness remains challenging.

Can zinc pollution promote adaptive evolution in plants? Insights from a one-generation selection experiment.

Human activities generate environmental stresses that can lead plant populations to become extinct. Population survival would require the evolution of adaptive responses that increase tolerance to these stresses. Thus, in pseudometallophyte species that have colonized anthropogenic metalliferous habitats, the evolution of increased metal tolerance is expected in metallicolous populations.

Author Correction: Intermediate degrees of synergistic pleiotropy drive adaptive evolution in ecological time.

In the version of this Article previously published, there was a typographical error ('4' instead of '2') in the equations relating F and effective population size (N ) in the Methods section 'Genome-wide scan for selection based on temporal differentiation'. The correct equations are given below.[Formula: see text] [Formula: see text].

Intermediate degrees of synergistic pleiotropy drive adaptive evolution in ecological time.

Rapid phenotypic evolution of quantitative traits can occur within years, but its underlying genetic architecture remains uncharacterized. Here we test the theoretical prediction that genes with intermediate pleiotropy drive adaptive evolution in nature. Through a resurrection experiment, we grew Arabidopsis thaliana accessions collected across an 8-year period in six micro-habitats representative of that local population.

Adaptive value of phenological traits in stressful environments: predictions based on seed production and laboratory natural selection.

Phenological traits often show variation within and among natural populations of annual plants. Nevertheless, the adaptive value of post-anthesis traits is seldom tested. In this study, we estimated the adaptive values of pre- and post-anthesis traits in two stressful environments (water stress and interspecific competition), using the selfing annual species Arabidopsis thaliana.