Biology subjects

Vile, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Vile, D..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Local trade-offs shape flower size evolution across Arabidopsis thaliana distribution.

The diversification of flowers, largely driven by mutualistic interactions with animal pollinators, has generated remarkable variation in floral form and size and is thought to have driven the evolutionary radiation of angiosperms. Here, we investigate the geographic variation in reproductive organ growth in the self-fertilizing species Arabidopsis thaliana, where the loss of pollinator dependence is predicted to favour reduced floral investment through resource reallocation. We find extensive variation in flower size underpinned by a polygenic architecture, in which derived alleles both increase and decrease petal size and show signatures of positive selection. Nevertheless, the evolutionary direction of flower size differs across regions, reflecting environmentally mediated shifts in the relationship between flower size and seed production. Strong purifying selection at the climatic margins favours smaller flowers, whereas relaxed environmental constraints in more suitable habitats allow the emergence and persistence of both small and large-flower variants. This biogeographic pattern extends to other life-history traits, highlighting how environmental heterogeneity and resource allocation constraints shape evolutionary trajectories and maintain phenotypic diversity in selfing lineages.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

FAIRTraits: an environmentally, methodologically and semantically enriched database of plant traits from Mediterranean populations of 240 species

Trait-based approaches have proven, and continue to offer strong potential to tackle key issues in ecology, including: (i) understanding the functioning of organisms and how it relates to the environment, (ii) identifying the rules governing the assembly of communities and the coexistence of species, (iii) understanding how the functioning of organisms scales up to that of ecosystems and controls some of the services they deliver to humans. We present FAIRTraits, a data set of plant traits assembled from a set of studies designed to address these issues in the pedo-climatic context of the Northern Mediterranean Basin, considered both a biodiversity and a climatic hotspot. The FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) guiding principles were followed to ensure maximum visibility and reusability of these data. FAIRTraits compiles and standardizes trait data collected over the 1997-2023 period on six sites by the same research group, ensuring that a consistent methodology was followed. These data were obtained on individuals from 1,955 populations of 240 species belonging to 155 genera and 48 families (172 herbaceous and 39 woody species). It contains 189,452 records for 183 quantitative traits from the different plant organs (leaves, stems, roots, and reproductive parts), which have been grouped into 10 categories: allocation ratio, architecture, chemistry, dynamics, mechanics, microbial associations, morphology, phenology, physiology and plant size. Trait values are given at the level of individual measurements. Species-level values of height and phenology taken from a Mediterranean flora are also given. Species are characterized by plant family, life cycle, Raunkiaer lifeform, photosynthetic pathway and by an original successional stage indicator value. As trait values strongly depend on environmental conditions, we also provide information on the climatic conditions and soil properties of the sites, as well as on disturbance regimes of the plots in which sampled individuals were collected. The following steps were taken to ensure the FAIRness of the data set. Findable: metadata are described using the Ecological Metadata Language, and are deposited both on the InDoRES (CNRS/MNHN) metadata catalogue and on the GBIF data portal (see below); Accessible: FAIRTraits is available on the InDoRES repository, with a subset available on the GBIF data portal (see below); Interoperable: recognized taxonomical and terminological resources to qualify taxa and attributes have been used whenever possible, and fully described sampling protocols and measurement methods are given both for traits and environmental data. A subset of the data could be mapped onto the Darwin Core biodiversity standard, making it possible to display part of the data set on the GBIF portal, more traditionally used for taxonomic occurrence data. Reusable: (meta)data are thoroughly described using domain-relevant community standards, and the full data set is released under the CC-BY 4.0 license. We believe that these multiple efforts, spanning from the very content of the data set to its careful formatting, will make of FAIRTraits a highly valuable resource for trait-based research, both in terms of data analysis and reusability.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Ecological and genetic trade-offs drive Arabidopsis thaliana range expansion in Europe

How trade-offs between traits constrain adaptation to contrasted environments is critical to understand the distribution range of a given species. In Arabidopsis thaliana, genetic analyses recently revealed that a group of genotypes successfully recolonized Europe from its center after the last glaciation, outcompeting older lineages and leaving them only at the distribution margins, where environmental conditions are more stressing. However, whether trade-offs between traits related to dispersal, competition, and stress tolerance explain the success and persistence of different lineages across the species geographic range remains an open question. Here, we compared the genetic and phenotypic differentiation between 72 ecotypes originating from three geographical groups in Europe (North, South and Center). We measured key traits related to fecundity, dispersal ability, competition tolerance, and stress tolerance, and used genomic data to infer the effect of selection on these traits. We showed that a trade-off between plant fecundity and seed mass constrains the diversification of A. thaliana in Europe. In particular, the success of the cosmopolitan genotypes that recolonized Europe can be explained by their higher dispersal ability at the expense of their competitive ability and stress tolerance. Inversely, peripheral ecotypes exhibited the opposite trait syndrome: high competition and stress tolerance but low dispersal ability. Moreover, peripheral genotypes tend to differentiate from central ones at genes involved in dispersal and competitive traits such as seed mass. Combining ecological and genomic approaches, our study demonstrated the role of key ecological trade-offs as evolutionary drivers of the distribution of plant populations along a geographic gradient. SignificanceAcross geographic gradients, differential adaptive phenotypes among populations can reduce the risk of local extinctions and favor niche dynamics. However, a phenotypic advantage often comes at a cost. For instance, the competition-colonization trade-off is proposed as an important driver of plant interspecific diversity, but its role for local adaptation at the intraspecific level is still unclear. Using the broadly-distributed species Arabidopsis thaliana, we evaluate how ecological trade-offs have shaped the demography and evolution of central and peripheral populations in its native geographic gradient. Our study demonstrates that the competition-colonization trade-off is responsible of the spatially-structured phenotypic variation of A. thaliana across its geographical range. Our study highlights seed mass as a key trait for plant adaptation across environmental conditions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2022

Plant-herbivore interactions: experimental demonstration of genetic variability in plant-plant signaling

O_LIPlant-herbivore interactions mediated by plant-plant signaling were documented in different species. Here, we tested if herbivore foraging activity on plants was influenced by plants prior contact with a damaged plant and if the effect of such plant-plant signaling was variable across genotypes. C_LIO_LIWe filmed snails during one hour on two plants differing only in a prior contact with a damaged plant or not. We replicated eight times the experiment on 113 natural genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana. We recorded snails first choice, and measured its first duration on a plant, the proportion of time spent on both plants and leaf consumption. C_LIO_LIOn average, snails spent more time on plants that experienced a prior contact with a damaged plant, and consumed them more. However, plant-plant signaling effect on snail behavior was variable across genotypes. Genome-wide association studies revealed that a small number of genetic polymorphisms related to stress coping ability and jasmonate pathway explained this variation. C_LIO_LIPlant-plant signaling modified the foraging activity of herbivores in A. thaliana. Depending on the plant genotype, plant-plant signaling made undamaged plants more repulsive or attractive to snails. This finding questions the theoretical basement of the evolution of plant-herbivore interactions mediated by plant-plant signaling. C_LI HighlightPlant-plant signaling differently affects snail foraging activity depending on genetic variations in A.thaliana. These findings question the theoretical basement of the evolution of plant-herbivore interactions mediated by plant-plant signaling.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Into the range: a latitudinal gradient or a center-margins differentiation of ecological strategies in Arabidopsis thaliana?

Background and AimsDetermining within-species large-scale variation in phenotypic traits is central to elucidate the drivers of species ranges. Intraspecific comparisons offer the opportunity to understand how trade-offs and biogeographical history constrain adaptation to contrasted environmental conditions. Here we test whether functional traits, ecological strategies and phenotypic plasticity in response to abiotic stress vary along a latitudinal or a center-margins gradient within the native range of Arabidopsis thaliana. MethodsThe phenotypic outcomes of plant adaptation at the center and margins of its geographic range were experimentally examined in 30 accessions from southern, central and northern Europe. The variation of traits related to stress tolerance, resource use, colonization ability as well as survival and fecundity was determined in response to high temperature (34{degrees}C) or frost (- 6{degrees}C), in combination with response to water deficit. Key ResultsBoth evidence for a latitudinal and a center-margins differentiation was found. Traits related to the acquisitive/conservative strategy trade-off varied along a latitudinal gradient. Northern accessions presented a greater survival to stress than central and southern accessions. Traits related to a colonization-competition trade-off followed a center-margin differentiation. Central accessions presented a higher phenotypic plasticity and trait values associated with a higher colonization ability than northern and southern accessions which instead had a higher competition ability. ConclusionsIntraspecific phenotypic variation helps us understand how the distribution range has evolved in Arabidopsis thaliana, which is shaped both by climate and the population migratory history. We advocate to consider intraspecific trait variation in species range studies instead of species means only as classically done in macroecology.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Leaf economics guides slow-fast adaptation across the geographic range of A. thaliana

The slow-fast continuum describes how resource allocation constrains life-history strategies in many organisms. In plants, it is reflected by a trade-off at the leaf level between the rate of carbon assimilation and lifespan, the so-called Leaf Economics Spectrum (LES). However, it is still unclear how the LES is connected to the slow-fast syndrome, and reflects adaptation to climate. Here, we measured growth, morpho-physiological and life-history traits at both leaf and whole-plant levels in 384 natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana. We examined the extent to which the LES continuum parallels the slow-fast continuum, and compared trait variation to neutral genetic differentiation between lineages. We found that the LES is tightly linked to variation in whole-plant functioning, relative growth rate and life history. A genetic analysis further suggested that phenotypic differentiation is linked to the evolution of different slow-fast strategies in contrasted climates. Together, our findings shed light on the physiological bases of the slow-fast continuum, and its role for plant adaptation to climate.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Climate as a driver of adaptive variations in ecological strategies in Arabidopsis thaliana

Background and aimsThe CSR classification categorizes plant species between stress-tolerators, ruderals (R) and competitors (C). Initially proposed as a general framework to describe ecological strategies at the interspecific level, this scheme has recently been used to investigate the variation of strategies within species. For instance, ample variation along the S-R axis was found in Arabidopsis thaliana, with stress-tolerator accessions predominating in hot and dry regions.\n\nMethodsIn this study, the range of CSR strategies within A. thaliana was evaluated across 426 accessions originating from North Africa to Scandinavia. A position in the CSR strategy space was allocated for every accession based on three functional traits: leaf area, leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA). Results were related to climate at origin and compared to a previous study performed on the same species. Furthermore, the role of natural selection in phenotypic differentiation between lineages was investigated with Qst-Fst comparisons, using the large genetic information available for this species.\n\nKey resultsSubstantial variation in ecological strategies along the S-R axis was found in A. thaliana. By contrast with previous findings, stress-tolerator accessions predominated in cold climates, notably Scandinavia, where late flowering was associated with traits related to resource conservation such as high LDMC and low SLA. Because of trait plasticity, variations in CSR classification to growth conditions were also observed for the same genotypes.\n\nConclusionsThere is a latitudinal gradient of ecological strategies in A. thaliana as a result of within-species adaptation to climate. Our study also underlines the importance of growth conditions and of the methodology used for trait measurement, notably age versus stage measurement, to infer the strength and direction of trait-environment relationships. Taken together, this highlights the potential and limitations of the CSR classification to explain functional adaptation to the environment.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Adaptive diversification of growth allometry in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Seed plants vary tremendously in size and morphology. However, variation and covariation between plant traits may at least in part be governed by universal biophysical laws and biological constants. Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST) posits that whole-organismal metabolism and growth rate are under stabilizing selection that minimizes the scaling of hydrodynamic resistance and maximizes the scaling of resource uptake. This constrains variation in physiological traits and in the rate of biomass accumulation, so that they can be expressed as mathematical functions of plant size with near constant allometric scaling exponents across species. However, observed variation in scaling exponents questions the evolutionary drivers and the universality of allometric equations. We have measured growth scaling and fitness traits of 451 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions with sequenced genomes. Variation among accessions around the scaling exponent predicted by MST correlated with relative growth rate, seed production and stress resistance. Genomic analyses indicate that growth allometry is affected by many genes associated with local climate and abiotic stress response. The gene with the strongest effect, PUB4, has molecular signatures of balancing selection, suggesting that intraspecific variation in growth scaling is maintained by opposing selection on the trade-off between seed production and abiotic stress resistance. Our findings support a core MST prediction and suggest that variation in allometry contributes to local adaptation to contrasting environments. Our results help reconcile past debates on the origin of allometric scaling in biology, and begin to link adaptive variation in allometric scaling to specific genes.\n\nSignificance statementAre there biological constants unifying phenotypic diversity across scales? Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST) predicts mathematical regularity and constancy in the allometric scaling of growth rate with body size across species. Here, we show that adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis thaliana is associated with local strains that substantially deviate from the values predicted by MST. This deviation can be linked to increased stress tolerance at the expense of seed production, and it occurs through selection on genes that are involved in abiotic stress response and that are geographically correlated with climatic conditions. This highlights the evolutionary role of allometric diversification and helps establish the physiological bases of plant adaptation to contrasting environments.

ecology↗