Ecological strategy and genetic load in the shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) from the core and the limit of its natural range.

Abstract

Species range expansion is a complex process whose outcome depends on the interplay of demographic, environmental and genetic factors. In plants, self-fertilizing species that do not require a mate to reproduce usually show higher invasive ability. However, this comes at a cost as both selfing and bottlenecks occurring during colonization lead to an increase in deleterious mutations accumulation (genetic load). Although they are theoretically clearly spelled out, the relationships between genomic and phenotypic characteristics of expanding populations have hitherto rarely been characterized. In the present study we analyzed how different accessions of the shepherds purse, C. bursa-pastoris, coming from the front of colonization or from the core of the natural range performed under increasing density of competitors. We first showed that, as expected, accessions from the front of colonization performed the worst for most life history traits compared with accessions from core populations. Second, competitor density had a negative impact on both vegetative growth and reproductive output in term of fruits production for all accessions. However, somewhat unexpectedly given their higher genetic load and their lower absolute performance, accessions from the front of colonization were less affected by competition than accessions from the core of the species range. This could be due to phenotypic tradeoffs and a shift in phenology that allow the accessions from the front of colonization to avoid competition. These results are discussed in terms of ecological strategies of expanding populations.