Testing the predictions of an evolutionary trade-off model using Iris pumila plants from an open and a shaded habitat

• Published in: Plant species biology Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 17 - 22
• Main Authors: TUCIĆ, BRANKA, PEMAC, DANIJELA, AVRAMOV, STEVAN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne, Australia Blackwell Science Pty 01.04.2005
• Subjects: Iris pumila; life-history traits; size-number relationships; trade-offs
• ISSN: 0913-557X; 1442-1984
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-1984.2005.00119.x

In current quantitative genetic models, the trade‐off is viewed as a dynamic relationship between competing fitness components, which will evolve as a consequence of selection. Selection can change both the intercept and slope of the trade‐off function, although it changes the former more strongly than the latter. We tested these predictions by examining two relationships among three clonal life‐history traits (ramet number per plant and ramet production rate as a function of leaf number per ramet) in Iris pumila plants originating from an open and a shaded habitat. Our results support the hypothesis that the trade‐off function will vary over environments, but not the expectation that the changes in the intercept are more likely than in the slope.