Polyploid plants have faster rates of multivariate niche differentiation than their diploid relatives

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2019 papers

Abstract

Polyploid speciation entails substantial and rapid postzygotic reproductive isolation of nascent species that are initially sympatric with one or both parents. Despite strong postzygotic isolation, ecological niche differentiation has long been thought to be important for polyploid success. Using biogeographic data from across vascular plants, we tested whether the climatic niches of polyploid species are more differentiated than their diploid relatives and if the climatic niches of polyploid species differentiated faster than those of related diploids. We found that polyploids are often more climatically differentiated from their diploid parents than the diploids are from each other. Consistent with this pattern, we estimated that polyploid species generally have higher rates of multivariate niche differentiation than their diploid relatives. In contrast to recent analyses, our results confirm that ecological niche differentiation is an important component of polyploid speciation and that niche differentiation is often significantly faster in polyploids.

Related Papers

• → Niche Occupation Limits Adaptive Radiation in Experimental Microcosms(2007)110 cited
• → Niche types and community assembly(2023)16 cited
• → Niche partitioning and niche filtering jointly mediate the coexistence of three closely related spider species ( A raneae, P hilodromidae)(2014)41 cited
• → Biodiversity maintenance may be lower under partial niche differentiation than under neutrality(2017)16 cited
• → Foraging in the tropics: relationships among species’ abundances, niche asymmetries and body condition in an urban avian assemblage(2017)6 cited