HUMAN SELECTION EFFECTS ON SELECTED AND CORRELATED TRAITS IN ANODA CRISTATA (L.) SCHLTDL. (MALVACEAE)

Background: Human selection favors traits of interest, but also implies changes in other correlated traits. In species with incipient domestication, variation in selection intensity generates differentiation between populations that allows to analyze these changes. Questions: How are the changes between selected and correlated traits within populations with different plant management practices in A. cristata? Studied species: Anoda cristata is an incipient domesticated species, people in Mexican central-south region often use it as a quelite. Study site and dates: The study was carried out in the Region Montana de Guerrero in 2008 and 2009. Methods: In a common garden experiment, individuals of three populations: promoted, agrestal, and ruderal, were planted. Four censuses were made to count and record the changes in selected and correlated traits. Results: Most of the phenotypic correlations between selected and correlated traits were significant at the species level. In promoted and agrestal populations, trade-offs between leaf area-trichome density and reproduction were recorded. Reproductive structures always appeared first in ruderal population. The species shows a tendency to resistance through the trichome density. Agrestal population tends towards a tolerant strategy probably related with human defoliation. Qualitative bromatological results indicate that there is variation in the nutritional composition among populations. Conclusions: The results suggest that selection intensity has generated divergence between promoted-agrestal and ruderal populations. The correlations effects and observed domestication syndromes seems to be associated with resource allocation trade-offs through different plant management practices and selection intensities that people exert on the species.

Automated summary

The study found that there were changes in selected traits and correlated traits within A. cristata populations under different plant management practices. Different populations showed different adaptive strategies, and there were variations in nutritional composition among populations.