RT Journal Article
T1 A resurrection experiment reveals the evolution of jack-and-master plasticity in a Mediterranean shrub
A1 Blanco-Sánchez, Mario
A1 Ramos-Muñoz, Marina
A1 Pías Couso, María Beatriz
A1 Pajares-Pérez, Javier
A1 Escudero, Adrián
A1 Matesanz, Silvia
AB In situ adaptive responses to climate change may involve evolution of both trait means and trait plasticity, yet empirical evidence linking rapid evolution with fitness consequences remains scarce. We used a resurrection experiment to test whether contemporary evolution has occurred in the Mediterranean gypsophile shrub Lepidium subulatum. We compared ancestral (1964) and descendant (2018) generations from the same population in a common garden implementing contrasting watering treatments, after controlling for seed storage effects and corroborating similar levels of neutral genetic variation between generations. Plants exhibited adaptive plasticity to drought in several leaf traits, resulting in a mixed resource-use strategy combining acquisitive (higher SLA) and conservative responses to drought (lower LA, higher LDMC). Evolutionary changes in trait means across generations mirrored the direction of plastic responses, supporting their adaptive value under increasing aridity. Plasticity patterns also evolved, with descendant genotypes expressing more acquisitive phenotypes under benign conditions but more conservative phenotypes under drought. These coordinated evolutionary changes were accompanied by increased opportunism: descendants showed greater reproductive output under well-watered conditions while maintaining comparable fitness under drought. Together, our results demonstrate rapid evolution of both trait means and their plasticity, leading to a jack-and-master fitness strategy. This study provides direct evidence that specialized Mediterranean plant populations can rapidly evolve in response to ongoing climate change.
PB Springer
SN 2045-2322
YR 2026
FD 2026-07-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/139090
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/139090
LA eng
NO AcknowledgementsWe thank the BGV-UPM “César Gómez Campo” germplasm bank for providing us with the seeds collected in 1964. We thank Carlos Díaz and José Luis Margalet for their assistance during the experimental set-up and data collection at CULTIVE facilities. We are also indebted to Baldomero Fernández (Pladur / Yesos Ibéricos-Algiss) for providing the gypsum soil where plants were grown. We further thank Diego Martínez and Svenja Wanke for their help with laboratory work. Finally, we are grateful to Esther Sánchez and Miguel Ángel Blanco, as well as to Luis García, Elsa García and Sara García, for kindly providing the experimental gardens in Getafe and Sevilla la Nueva, respectively, and for maintaining the plants during the refresher generation.FundingThe study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant GYPSEVOL, CGL2016–75566-P) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant MultiAdaptS3, PID2021-126103NB-I00).
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Unión Europea
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 nov 2026