Strong selection is poorly aligned with genetic variation in Ipomoea hederacea: implications for divergence and constraint.

The multivariate evolution of populations is the result of the interactions between natural selection, drift, and the underlying genetic structure of the traits involved. Covariances among traits bias responses to selection, and the multivariate axis which describes the greatest genetic variation is expected to be aligned with patterns of divergence across populations. An exception to this expectation is when selection acts on trait combinations lacking genetic variance, which limits evolutionary change. Here we used a common garden field experiment of individuals from 57 populations of Ipomoea hederacea to characterize linear and nonlinear selection on 5 quantitative traits in the field. We then formally compare patterns of selection to previous estimates of within population genetic covariance structure (the G-matrix) and population divergence in these traits. We found that selection is poorly aligned with previous estimates of genetic covariance structure and population divergence. In addition, the trait combinations favored by selection were generally lacking genetic variation, possessing approximately 15%-30% as much genetic variation as the most variable combination of traits. Our results suggest that patterns of population divergence are likely the result of the interplay between adaptive responses, correlated responses, and selection favoring traits lacking genetic variation.

G-matrix stability in clinally diverging populations of an annual weed.

How phenotypic and genetic divergence among populations is influenced by the genetic architecture of those traits, and how microevolutionary changes in turn affect the within-population patterns of genetic variation, are of major interest to evolutionary biology. Work on Ipomoea hederacea, an annual vine, has found genetic clines in the means of a suite of ecologically important traits, including flowering time, growth rate, seed mass, and corolla width. Here we investigate the genetic (co)variances of these clinally varying traits in two northern range-edge and two central populations of I. hederacea to evaluate the influence of the genetic architecture on divergence across the range. We find (1) limited evidence for clear differentiation between Northern and Southern populations in the structure of G, suggesting overall stability of G across the range despite mean trait divergence and (2) that the axes of greatest variation (gmax) were unaligned with the axis of greatest multivariate divergence. Together these results indicate the role of the quantitative genetic architecture in constraining evolutionary response and divergence among populations across the geographic range.