Anthropogenic fire drives the evolution of seed traits
- 7 November 2011
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 108 (46), 18743-18747
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108863108
Abstract
Fire is a major disturbance affecting ecosystems worldwide. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the evolution of seed persistence (fire resistance) is associated with fire frequency or severity. However, the existence of specific seed traits resulting from natural selection mediated by fire remains a key question in plant evolution. We evaluated the role of fire in the evolution of seed traits from a microevolutionary perspective, using as a study system a native forb from the Chilean matorral, where fire is a novel, anthropogenic disturbance. We show that anthropogenic fires are shaping the evolution of seed traits such as pubescence and shape. Among-population variation in seed pubescence, shape, and pericarp thickness was strongly associated with fire frequency, and within a population, fire selected those plants with more pubescent seeds, thicker pericarps, and less rounded seeds. Seed pubescence and shape were shown to be heritable traits. Our findings provide insights into the understanding of the evolution of seed traits in fire-prone environments and demonstrate that human-made fires can be driving evolutionary changes in plant species from ecosystems where fires do not occur naturally.This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
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