Natural selection is expected to cause convergence of life histories among taxa as well as correlated evolution of different life-history traits. Here, we quantify the extent of convergence of five key life-history traits (adult fire survival, seed storage, degree of sexual dimorphism, pollination mode, and seed-dispersal mode) and test hypotheses about their correlated evolution in the genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae) from the fire-prone South African fynbos. We reconstructed a new molecular phylogeny of this highly diverse genus that involves more taxa and molecular markers than previously. This reconstruction identifies new clades that were not detected by previous molecular study and morphological classifications. Using this new phylogeny and robust methods that account for phylogenetic uncertainty, we show that the five life-history traits studied were labile during the evolutionary history of the genus. This diversity allowed us to tackle major questions about the correlated evolution of life-history strategies. We found that species with longer seed-dispersal distances tended to evolve lower pollen-dispersal distance, that insect-pollinated species evolved decreased sexual dimorphism, and that species with a persistent soil seed-bank evolved toward reduced fire-survival ability of adults.
DNA alignment for the genus Leucadendron phylogeny
This alignment is the concatenation of nine markers that were used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the genus Leucadendron in the paper cited above. Those markers were amplified for 81 Leucadendron taxa collected in natural populations in the South-African fynbos, except for three external groups which were collected in the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden: Paranomus spathulatus, Mimetes cucullatus and Leucospermum erubescens. A detailed map of the alignment is given below:
Positions 1 - 618 : AS1 marker which contains an exon of 618bp.
Positions 619 - 1046 : PPR-like marker which contains an exon of 233bp and a 3'-UTR of 195bp.
Positions 1047 - 1800 : SVR7 marker which contains an exon of 652bp and a 3'-UTR of 102bp.
Positions 1801 - 2181 : CAF1-6 marker which only contains an exon of 381bp.
Positions 2182 - 2795 : the classical ITS marker.
Positions 2796 - 3591 : ATINT1 marker which contains an exon of 665bp and a 3'-UTR of 131bp.
Positions 3592 - 3868 : APO2 marker which contains only an exon of 277bp.
Positions 3869 - 4207 : APG6 marker which contains only an exon of 339bp.
Positions 3208 - 4865 : ATPHAN marker which contains only an exon of 658bp
The methodology used to design the following markers: PPR-like, CAF1-6, ATINT1, APO2, APG6 and ATPHAN is described in (Tonnabel et al. 2013). The AS1 marker was designed in (Illing et al. 2009).
Tonnabel, J., Olivieri, I., Mignot, A., Rebelo, A., Justy, F., Santoni, S., Caroli, S., Sauné, L., Bouchez, O. & Douzery, E.J.P. (2014) Developing nuclear DNA phylogenetic markers in the angiosperm genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae): a next-generation sequencing transcriptomic approach, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 70, 37-46.
Illing, N., Klak, C., Johnson, C., Brito, D., Negrao, N., Baine, F., van Kets, V., Ramchurn K.R., Seoighe, C. & Roden, L. (2009) Duplication of the Asymmetric Leaves1/Rough Sheath 2/Phantastica (ARP) gene precedes the explosive radiation of the Ruschioideae. Development genes and evolution, 219, 331-338.
Tonnabeletal_Evolution_alignment_Leucadendron.fas
data_sexspecific_leaf_measurements
This dataset corresponds to the sex-specific leaves measurements realized for the Leucadendron genus (L.) in order to assess sexual dimorphism at the leave level. Leaf area (named area), leaf length (named length) and leaf width (named width) have been assessed for several individuals (ind) of several populations (pop) of different species (species). Within the file, females are designed by 'F' and males by 'M'.
data_sexspecific_leaf_measurement.ods
