Blanco Sánchez, MarioRamírez Valiente, José AlbertoRamos Muñoz, MarinaPías Couso, María BeatrizFranks, Steven J.Escudero, AdriánMatesanz, Silvia2025-02-192025-02-192024Blanco-Sánchez, M., Ramírez-Valiente, J. A., Ramos-Muñoz, M., Pías, B., Franks, S. J., Escudero, A., & Matesanz, S. (2024). Range-wide intraspecific variation reflects past adaptation to climate in a gypsophile Mediterranean shrub. Journal of Ecology, 112, 1533–1549. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.143220022-047710.1111/1365-2745.14322https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118215This study was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant GYPSEVOL, CGL2016-75566-P) and the Madrid Regional Government (grant Remedinal3-CM, S2013/MAE-2719).Phenotypic differences among populations stem from the interaction between neutral and adaptive processes, and phenotypic plasticity. Although clinal trait variation along climatic gradients often evolves in widely distributed species, it is unknown whether substrate specialization, such as that of Mediterranean gypsum plants, has constrained adaptation to climate. Using a common garden experiment with two contrasting watering treatments, we quantified phenotypic plasticity, assessed evidence for footprints of selection using FST – QST comparisons, and evaluated the ecological factors driving genetically based phenotypic differentiation of 11 populations encompassing the full environmental range of the gypsum shrub Lepidium subulatum. We found evidence for genetic differentiation among populations related to climatic differences, with populations from warmer and drier sites showing lower specific leaf area and leaf N, earlier phenology, greater water use efficiency and greater fitness. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that this differentiation was driven by past divergent selection rather than neutral processes. All populations showed high phenotypic plasticity, indicating that plasticity has not been selected against, even in populations from sites with harsher climatic conditions. Synthesis. Our results indicate that despite strong substrate specialization, adaptive differentiation related to climatic gradients occurs in this species. However, we also found that populations from mesic sites may be particularly vulnerable to future climate change given their relatively lower fitness under both wet and dry conditions.engAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/journal article1365-2745https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14322https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.14322open access574.3581.5581.15Adaptive intraspecific variationDivergent evolutionGypsophilesLocal adaptationNatural selectionPhenotypic plasticityPopulation differentiationQST – FST comparisonsEcología (Biología)Botánica (Biología)Genética2417.13 Ecología Vegetal2417 Biología Vegetal (Botánica)2417.14 Genética Vegetal