Project name:
AdapTest - Testing and predicting rapid plant
adaptation across broad climatic conditions
People:
Javier Morente-López (PI), Niek Scheepens (PI),
Martí March-Salas, Yurena Arjona, Stefania Przybylska, Elena Hamann, Moises
Exposito-Alonso, François Vasseur, and the AdapTest consortium.
Funding:
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Alexander
von Humboldt Foundation
Duration:
June 2024 – May 2026
In short:
In this project we investigate the process of
evolutionary adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis
thaliana. We aim to assess the pace and efficacy of the adaptation process
through a continent-scale reciprocal transplant experiment.
Project description:
The biosphere is affected by rapid
anthropogenic climate change, which has drastic consequences for global
biodiversity. While tracking rapid climatic shifts through migration may be
impossible for many plant species, populations may be able to respond with
adaptive evolution. The scientific community has made significant progress in
understanding adaptive evolutionary responses. But what has not yet been sufficiently
understood is: Can evolutionary adaptation to different climates occur
rapidly? The AdapTest project tackles this question by using an
experimental approach to fill gaps in understanding the capability of plant
populations to rapidly adapt to novel climatic conditions.
The potential of experimental evolution
approaches to study adaptive evolution is well recognized, but applications are
generally limited to controlled ex-situ
studies. In other words, there is a scarcity of tests for rapid evolutionary
processes under natural conditions, especially across broad climatic ranges.
Moreover, rigorous tests of adaptation using reciprocal transplantations in the
field – that would ideally follow evolution experiments – are rare.
The AdapTest project aims to foster our
understanding of rapid adaptation through direct testing with unprecedented
accuracy. Specifically, we will use lineages from an evolution experiment with Arabidopsis thaliana (from the GrENE-net
project) which evolved under natural climatic conditions in 12 sites along a
broad climatic range in Europe. These lineages will be reciprocally
transplanted in situ for a direct experimental test of rapid evolutionary
adaptation. We will (i) measure fitness and functional traits to assess local
adaptation and adaptive trait shifts and (ii) use cutting-edge genomics tools
to identify allele variants associated with phenotypes and climatic variables.
AdapTest implies a major step forward compared
to previous work due to its explicit and direct test of rapid adaptation of
experimentally evolved lineages under natural conditions and its outstanding
integration of in-situ common gardens
and genomics.
