Environmental patterns of adaptation after range expansion in Leontodon longirostris: The effect of phenological events on fitness-related traits.

Premise: Because of expected range shifts associated with climate change, there is a renewed interest in the evolutionary factors constraining adaptation, among which are genetic bottlenecks, drift, and increased mutational load after range expansion. Here we study adaptation in the short-lived species Leontodon longirostris showing reduced genetic diversity and increased genetic load along an expansion route.

Methods: We assessed the phenological patterns of variation, and their effect on fitness-related traits, on 42 L.