36-year study reveals stability of a wild wheat population across microhabitats

Abstract

Long-term genetic studies of wild populations are very scarce, but are essential for connecting ecological and population genetics models, and for understanding the dynamics of biodiversity. We present a study of a wild wheat population sampled over a 36-year period at high spatial resolution. We genotyped 832 individuals from regular sampling along transects during the course of the experiment. Genotypes were clustered into ecological microhabitats over scales of tens of metres, and this clustering was remarkably stable over the 36 generations of the study. Simulations show that it is difficult to determine whether this spatial and temporal stability reflects extremely limited dispersal or fine-scale local adaptation to ecological parameters. Using a common-garden experiment, we showed that the genotypes found in distinct microhabitats differ phenotypically. Our results provide a rare insight into the population genetics of a natural population over a long monitoring period.