Genomic data and common garden experiments reveal climate-driven selection on ecophysiological traits in two Mediterranean oaks

Abstract

Improving our knowledge of how past climate-driven selection has acted on present-day trait population divergence is essential to understand local adaptation processes and improve our predictions of evolutionary trajectories in the face of altered selection pressures resulting from climate change. In this study, we investigated signals of selection on traits related to drought tolerance and growth rates in two Mediterranean oak species (Quercus faginea and Q. lusitanica) with contrasting distribution ranges and climatic niches. We genotyped 182 individuals from 24 natural populations of the two species using restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing and conducted a thorough functional characterization in 1602 seedlings from 21 populations cultivated in common garden experiments under contrasting watering treatments. Our genomic data revealed that both Q. faginea and Q. lusitanica have very weak population genetic structure, probably as a result of high rates of pollen-mediated gene flow among populations and large effective population sizes. In contrast, common garden experiments showed evidence of climate-driven divergent selection among populations on traits related to leaf morphology, physiology and growth in both species. Overall, our study suggests that climate is an important selective factor for Mediterranean oaks and that ecophysiological traits have evolved in drought-prone environments even in a context of very high rates of gene flow among populations.