Abstract
Question: Does water loss during drought stress represent an important physiological constraint on the evolution of flower size? Organism: A genetically diverse population of Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower) originally sampled from an alpine meadow in Oregon, USA. Methods: We grew plants of three different genotypic classes (small, medium, and large flowered) under both well-watered and drought-stress conditions and measured water use efficiency using stable carbon isotopes. Results: There was no difference in water use efficiency among flower size genotypes under well-watered conditions, but the water use efficiency of small-flowered plants was substantially lower than that of medium or large genotypes under drought stress. Whether this paradoxical result is a direct effect of flower size or an indirect (i.e. pleiotropic) effect, the presence of a genetic correlation between floral and physiological traits indicates that selection of one does impact the other.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 147-152 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Evolutionary Ecology Research |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - Jan 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Carbon isotopes
- Drought
- Genetic correlations
- Mimulus guttatus
- Water use efficiency
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics