Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection

Siepielski, Adam M.; Morrissey, Michael B.; Buoro, Mathieu; Carlson, Stephanie M.; Caruso, Christina M.; Clegg, Sonya M.; Coulson, Tim; DiBattista, Joseph; Gotanda, Kiyoko M.; Francis, Clinton D.; Hereford, Joe; Kingsolver, Joel G.; Augustine, Kate E.; Kruuk, Loeske E.B.; Martin, Ryan A.; Sheldon, Ben C.; Sletvold, Nina; Svensson, Erik I.; Wade, Michael J.; MacColl, Andrew D.C.

Abstract

Climate change has the potential to affect the ecology and evolution of every species on Earth. While the ecological consequences of climate change are increasingly well documented, the effects of climate on the key evolutionary process driving adaptation—natural selection—is largely unknown. We report that aspects of precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, along with the North Atlantic Oscillation, predicted variation in selection across plant and animal populations throughout many terrestrial biomes, whereas temperature explained little variation. By showing that selection was influenced by climate variation, our results indicate that climate change may cause widespread alterations in selection regimes, potentially shifting evolutionary trajectories at a global scale.

Citation

Siepielski, A. M., Morrissey, M. B., Buoro, M., Carlson, S. M., Caruso, C. M., Clegg, S. M., Coulson, T., DiBattista, J., Gotanda, K. M., Francis, C. D., Hereford, J., Kingsolver, J. G., Augustine, K. E., Kruuk, L. E., Martin, R. A., Sheldon, B. C., Sletvold, N., Svensson, E. I., Wade, M. J., & MacColl, A. D. (2017). Precipitation drives global variation in natural selection. Science, 355(6328), https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag2773

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 2, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 3, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 6, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 6, 2017
• Journal: Science
• Print ISSN: 0036-8075
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-9203
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 355
• Issue: 6328
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag2773
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/848321
• Publisher URL: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6328/959
• Contract Date: Mar 6, 2017