Biology subjects

Violle, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Violle, C..

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Environmental complexity constrains evolutionary adaptation across taxa

Complex environments combining multiple stressors are the new norm worldwide. Adaptive evolution will be critical to population persistence under these combined challenges, but how environmental complexity affects the pace of evolution remains poorly understood. Using a meta-experimental evolution approach, we exposed 14 species, from bacteria to unicellular eukaryotes and plants, to single stressors and their pairwise combinations for multiple generations, while keeping the overall stress level comparable. Populations evolving under combined stressors tended to have lower fitness increase in the selective environments, higher fitness reductions in the control environment, and shallower relation between initial maladaptation and fitness gain, than under single stressors. However, these responses varied with species and stressor type. Accounting for such constraints on evolutionary dynamics should prove crucial for the management of biodiversity. Significance StatementA pressing challenges for modern science and society in the face of ongoing global change is understanding what limits the capacity of living organisms to adapt to complex environments combining multiple stressors. To answer to this question, we conducted a large-scale meta-experimental evolution design across a diversity of organisms, exposing them for multiple generations to either single or combined-stress treatments. Combined stressors led to less adaptive fitness gain than single stressors, and imposed additional costs through reduced fitness in non-stressful conditions. This unique combination of meta-experimental approach with a careful distinction between environmental complexity and overall stress allowed us to gain robust quantitative evidence on how environmental complexity can impact the pace of evolution.

evolutionary biology↗

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

From smartphones to satellites: Uniting crowdsourced biodiversity monitoring and Earth observation to fill the gaps in global plant trait mapping

Plant functional traits are fundamental to ecosystem dynamics and Earth system processes, but their global characterization is limited by the availability of field surveys and trait measurements. Recent expansions in biodiversity data aggregation, including large collections of vegetation surveys, citizen science observations, and trait measurements, offer new opportunities to overcome these constraints. Here we demonstrate that combining these diverse data sources with high-resolution Earth observation data enables accurate modeling of key plant traits at up to 1 km resolution. Our approach achieves high predictive power, reaching correlations up to 0.63 (15 of 31 traits exceeding 0.50) and improved spatial transferability, effectively bridging gaps in under-sampled regions. By capturing a broad range of traits with high spatial coverage, these maps can enhance our understanding of plant community properties and ecosystem functioning globally, and can serve as useful tools in modeling global biogeochemical processes and informing worldwide conservation efforts. Ultimately, our framework highlights the power and necessity of crowdsourced biodiversity data in high-resolution plant trait modeling. We anticipate that advancements in biodiversity data collection and remote sensing capabilities will further refine global trait mapping, fostering a dynamic trait-based understanding of the biosphere.

ecology↗

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↗

bioRxiv2024

Adaptation to climate in the native and introduced ranges of a cosmopolitan plant

Climate change and the global spread of non-native species are two of the most significant threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Both these phenomena subject populations to novel conditions, either in space (species introductions) or in time (climate change), yet the role of adaptation in how populations respond to these rapid environmental shifts is poorly understood. We conducted a large-scale trans-continental common garden experiment using white clover (Trifolium repens, Fabaceae) to test whether adaptive evolution to spatiotemporal variation in climate could contribute to the ecological success of one of the most widespread plant species in the world. Individuals from 96 populations of Trifolium repens (white clover) from both its native (Europe) and introduced (North America) ranges were planted into four experimental common gardens located in northern (Uppsala, Sweden) and southern (Montpellier, France) Europe, and northern (Mississauga, Canada) and southern (Lafayette, USA) North America. We recorded plant sexual and clonal fitness in each common garden and assessed whether the strength of local adaptation differed between the native and introduced ranges and whether populations are rapidly adapting to climate change. Results show that local adaptation was only evident when populations were transplanted into common gardens located in the same range (native or introduced) from which they originated and was driven by stronger selection (due to climatic factors rather than herbivory) at lower latitudes in both ranges. Our results indicate rapid local adaptation across a large latitudinal gradient in introduced T. repens populations, along with an associated adaptation cost when transplanted back into the native range. We also find evidence of an adaptation lag in the northern common garden in the introduced range, with plants from historically warmer climates exhibiting the greatest fitness. These findings support two major conclusions: 1) white clover can rapidly adapt to spatial variation in climate in its introduced range as well as the native range, and 2) despite rapid adaptation to novel environments, introduced white clover populations are not keeping pace with rapid climate change. Overall, our results provide insight into the role of adaptation in facilitating the ecological success of non-native species in a rapidly changing world. Open Research StatementData are provided for peer review. All data involved in this study is available on the GitHub page for LJA (https://github.com/ljalbano/transcontinental_common_garden).

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Structural variants underlie parallel adaptation following global invasion

Rapid adaptation during invasion has historically been considered limited and unpredictable. We leverage whole-genome sequencing of >2600 plants across six continents to investigate the relative roles of colonization history and adaptation during the worldwide invasion of Trifolium repens. Introduced populations contain high levels of genetic variation with independent colonization histories evident on different continents. Five large structural variants on three chromosomes exist as standing genetic variation within the native range, and exhibit strong signatures of parallel climate-associated adaptation across continents. Common gardens in the native and introduced ranges demonstrate that three structural variants exhibit patterns of selection consistent with local adaptation across each range. Our results provide strong evidence that rapid and parallel adaptation during invasion is caused by large-effect structural variants introduced throughout the world. Significance StatementBiological invasions occur over short timescales and introductions are often hypothesized to include limited genetic diversity, making the role of adaptation in invasion success controversial. We demonstrate that the invasion of a human-commensal species, Trifolium repens, likely stems from multiple, diverse introductions with significant evidence of climate-associated adaptation following introduction. The genetic basis of adaptation is most strongly linked to five chromosomal rearrangements that each span hundreds of genes - matching theoretical predictions that large-effect variants are key to the initial stages of adaptation to novel environments. Chromosomal rearrangements have remarkably parallel signatures of adaptation across different introductions despite initial colonization from different areas of Europe. Our study highlights the impact of globalization and rapid adaptation for the invasion success of human commensal species.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Partitioning changes in ecosystem productivity by effects of species interactions in biodiversity experiments

Species interactions affect ecosystem productivity. Positive interactions (resource partitioning and facilitation) increase productivity while negative interactions (species interference) decrease productivity relative to the null expectations defined by monoculture yields. Effects of competitive interactions (resource competition) can be either positive or negative. Distinguishing effects of species interactions is therefore difficult, if not impossible, with current biodiversity experiments involving mixtures and full density monocultures. To partition changes in ecosystem productivity by effects of species interactions, we modify null expectations with competitive growth responses, i.e., proportional changes in individual size (biomass or volume) expected in mixture based on species differences in growth and competitive ability. We use partial density (species density in mixture) monocultures and the competitive exclusion principle to determine maximum competitive growth responses and full density monoculture yields to measure species ability to achieve maximum competitive growth responses in mixture. Deviations of observed yields from competitive expectations represent the effects of positive/negative species interactions, while the differences between competitive and null expectations reflect the effects of competitive interactions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our competitive partitioning model in distinguishing effects of species interactions using both simulated and experimental species mixtures. Our competitive partitioning model enables meaningful assessments of species interactions at both species and community levels and helps disentangle underlying mechanisms of species interactions responsible for changes in ecosystem productivity and identify species mixtures that maximize positive effects.

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↗

bioRxiv2021

Trait-trait relationships and functional tradeoffs vary with genome size in prokaryotes

We report genomic traits that have been associated with the life history of prokaryotes and highlight conflicting findings concerning earlier observed trait correlations and tradeoffs. In order to address possible explanations for these contradictions we examined trait-trait variations of 11 genomic traits from ~ 18,000 sequenced genomes. The studied trait-trait variations suggested: (i) the predominance of two resistance and resilience-related orthogonal axes and (ii) at least in free living species with large effective population sizes whose evolution is little affected by genetic drift an overlap between a resilience axis and an axis of resource usage efficiency. These findings imply that resistance associated traits of prokaryotes are globally decoupled from resilience related traits and in the case of free-living communities also from resource use efficiencies associated traits. However, further inspection of pairwise scatterplots showed that resistance and resilience traits tended to be positively related for genomes up to roughly five million base pairs and negatively for larger genomes. This in turn may preclude a globally consistent assignment of prokaryote genomic traits to the competitor - stress-tolerator - ruderal (CSR) schema that sorts species depending on their location along disturbance and productivity gradients into three ecological strategies and may serve as an explanation for conflicting findings from earlier studies. All reviewed genomic traits featured significant phylogenetic signals and we propose that our trait table can be applied to extrapolate genomic traits from taxonomic marker genes. This will enable to empirically evaluate the assembly of these genomic traits in prokaryotic communities from different habitats and under different productivity and disturbance scenarios as predicted via the resistance-resilience framework formulated here.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Interspecific interactions regulate plant reproductive allometry in cereal-legume intercropping systems

O_LICalls for ecological principles in agriculture have gained momentum. Intercropping systems have long been designed by growing two, or more, annual crop species in the same field, aiming for a better resource use efficiency. However, assembly rules for their design are lacking. Notably, it is still unknown whether species performances are maximized during both the vegetative and reproductive phases given the sensitivity of reproductive allocation rules to resource limitation. Interestingly, ecological theory provides expectations regarding putative invariance of plant reproductive allometry (PRA) under non-limiting conditions for plant growth. Here we examined whether and how PRA changes in response to plant-plant interactions in intercropping systems, which can inform both ecological theory and the understanding of the functioning of intercropping systems. C_LIO_LIWe analyzed a dataset of 28 field cereal-legume intercropping trials from various climatic and management conditions across Western Europe. PRA was quantified in both mixing and single-species situations. C_LIO_LIPRA was positively impacted in specific management conditions, leading to a greater increase in yield for a given increase in plant size. Variations in PRA were more beneficial for legumes grown in unfertilized mixture, which explains their use as a key component in actual intercrop systems. The response for cereals was similar but less pronounced in magnitude, and was greater under limiting resource conditions. Focusing on intercropping conditions, hierarchical competition (indicated by biomass difference between intercropped species) appears as a strong driver of the reproductive output of a given species. C_LIO_LISynthesis and applications. Plant reproductive allometry behaves in crop species in the same way as it does in wild species. However, contrary to theoretical expectations about an overall invariance of PRA, we highlighted taxon-specific and context-dependent effects of plant-plant interactions on PRA. This systematic deviation to PRA expectations could be leveraged to cultivate each species up to its reproductive optimum while accounting for the performance of the other, whether farmers objective is to favor one species or to reach an equilibrium in seed production. Sowing density and cultivar choice could regulate the biomass of each component, with specific targets derived from allometric relationships, aiming for an optimal reproductive allocation in mixtures. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Global mismatches between crop distributions and climate suitability

The selection of new crops and the migration of crop areas are two key strategies for agriculture to cope with climate change and ensure food security in the coming years. However, both rely on the assumption that climate is a major factor determining crop distributions worldwide. Here, we show that the current global distributions of nine of twelve major crops strongly diverge from their modelled climatic suitability for yields, after controlling for technology, agricultural management and soil conditions. Comparing the climatic niches of crops and their wild progenitors reveals that climate suitability is higher outside the native climatic range for six of these nine crops while all of them are farmed predominantly in their native ranges. These results show that agricultural strategies coping with climate change will be unsuccessful unless they fully consider the social, cultural, and ecological factors underpinning crop distributions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Quaternary climate change explains global patterns of tree beta-diversity

Both historical and contemporary environmental conditions determine present biodiversity patterns, but their relative importance is not well understood. One way to disentangle their relative effects is to assess how different dimensions of beta-diversity relate to past climatic changes, i.e., taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional compositional dissimilarity, and their components generated by replacement of species, lineages and traits (turnover) and richness changes (nestedness). Here, we quantify global patterns of each of these aspects of beta-diversity among neighboring sites for angiosperm trees using the most extensive global database of tree species-distributions (43,635 species). We found that temperature change since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was the major influence on both turnover and nestedness components of beta-diversity, with a negative correlation to turnover and a positive correlation to nestedness. Moreover, phylogenetic and functional nestedness was higher than expected from taxonomic beta-diversity in regions that experienced large temperature changes since the LGM. This pattern reflects relatively greater losses of phylogenetic and functional diversity in species-poor assemblages, possibly caused by phylogenetically and functionally selective species extinction and recolonization during glacial-interglacial oscillations. Our results send a strong warning that rapid anthropogenic climate change is likely to result in a long-lasting phylogenetic and functional compositional simplification, potentially impairing forest ecosystem functioning.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Paleoclimate and current climate collectively shape the phylogenetic and functional diversity of trees worldwide

Trees are of vital importance for ecosystem functioning and services at local to global scales, yet we still lack a detailed overview of the global patterns of tree diversity and the underlying drivers, particularly the imprint of paleoclimate. Here, we present the high-resolution (110 km) worldwide mapping of tree species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversities based on [~]7 million quality-assessed occurrences for 46,752 tree species (80.5% of the estimated total number of tree species), and subsequent assessments of the influence of paleo-climate legacies on these patterns. All three tree diversity dimensions exhibited the expected latitudinal decline. Contemporary climate emerged as the strongest driver of all diversity patterns, with Pleistocene and deeper-time (>107 years) paleoclimate as important co-determinants, and, notably, with past cold and drought stress being linked to reduced current diversity. These findings demonstrate that tree diversity is affected by paleoclimate millions of years back in time and highlight the potential for tree diversity losses from future climate change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Half of the world's tree biodiversity is unprotected and is increasingly threatened by human activities

Although trees are key to ecosystem functioning, many forests and tree species across the globe face strong threats. Preserving areas of high biodiversity is a core priority for conservation; however, different dimensions of biodiversity and varied conservation targets make it difficult to respond effectively to this challenge. Here, we (i) identify priority areas for global tree conservation using comprehensive coverage of tree diversity based on taxonomy, phylogeny, and functional traits; and (ii) compare these findings to existing protected areas and global biodiversity conservation frameworks. We find that ca. 51% of the top-priority areas for tree biodiversity are located in current protected areas. The remaining half top-priority areas are subject to moderate to high human pressures, indicating conservation actions are needed to mitigate these human impacts. Our findings emphasize the effectiveness of using tree conservation priority areas for future global conservation planning.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Areas of global importance for terrestrial biodiversity, carbon, and water

Summary paragraphTo meet the ambitious objectives of biodiversity and climate conventions, countries and the international community require clarity on how these objectives can be operationalized spatially, and multiple targets be pursued concurrently1. To support governments and political conventions, spatial guidance is needed to identify which areas should be managed for conservation to generate the greatest synergies between biodiversity and natures contribution to people (NCP). Here we present results from a joint optimization that maximizes improvements in species conservation status, carbon retention and water provisioning and rank terrestrial conservation priorities globally. We found that, selecting the top-ranked 30% (respectively 50%) of areas would conserve 62.4% (86.8%) of the estimated total carbon stock and 67.8% (90.7%) of all clean water provisioning, in addition to improving the conservation status for 69.7% (83.8%) of all species considered. If priority was given to biodiversity only, managing 30% of optimally located land area for conservation may be sufficient to improve the conservation status of 86.3% of plant and vertebrate species on Earth. Our results provide a global baseline on where land could be managed for conservation. We discuss how such a spatial prioritisation framework can support the implementation of the biodiversity and climate conventions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Transcriptional natural variation at FLM induces synergistic pleiotropy in Arabidopsis thaliana

Investigating the evolution of complex phenotypes and the underlying molecular bases of their variation is critical to understand how organisms adapt to the environment. We used leaf growth as a model trait as it is highly integrative of internal and external cues and relies on functions at different levels of the plant organization. Applying classical quantitative genetics on a recombinant inbred line population derived from a Can-0 x Col-0 cross, we identified the MADS-box transcription factor FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) as a player of the phenotypic variation for leaf growth and colour. Interestingly, we showed that allelic variation at FLM modulates plant growth strategy along the leaf economics spectrum, a trade-off between resource acquisition and resource conservation observable across thousands of plant species. We demonstrated that the functional differences at FLM relies on a single intronic substitution, disturbing transcript splicing and leading to a low expression of the active FLM transcript. Using phenotypic and climatic data across Arabidopsis natural populations, our work shows how noncoding genetic variation of a single gene may be adaptive through synergistic pleiotropy.

plant biology↗