CORRELATION BETWEEN TIME OF FLOWERING AND PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA (BRASSICACEAE)

We observed substantial variation in the time of flowering among 13 populations of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) from an extensive latitudinal range when grown under uniform experimental conditions. The later the onset of flowering, the greater was potential reproduction. Later flowering plants also had greater plasticity in a host of morphological and physiological traits measured in nutrient-rich vs. nutrient-poor test environments. This relationship between flowering time and overall plasticity was only apparent for traits measured at the time of seed production, not at the time of flowering or earlier. At the time of seed production in this short-lived annual, the regression of a multivariate measure of overall plasticity on the time of flowering was linear and highly significant (r(2) = 0.90, P < 0.0001). These correlations among time of flowering, reproductive fitness, and plasticity support the idea that selection for late-flowering genotypes would select concomitantly for greater plasticity.