Range expansions are central to two ecological issues reshaping patterns of global biodiversity: biological invasions and climate change. Traditional theory considers range expansion as the outcome of the demographic processes of birth, death and dispersal, while ignoring the evolutionary implications of such processes. Recent research suggests evolution could also play a critical role in determining expansion speed but controlled experiments are lacking. Here we use flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) to show experimentally that mean expansion speed and stochastic variation in speed are both increased by rapid evolution of traits at the expansion edge. We find that higher dispersal ability and lower intrinsic growth rates evolve at the expansion edge compared with spatially nonevolving controls. Furthermore, evolution of these traits is variable, leading to enhanced variance in speed among replicate population expansions. Our results demonstrate that evolutionary processes must be considered alongside demographic ones to better understand and predict range expansions.

Summary The ecological and adaptive significance of plant polyploidization is not well understood and no clear pattern of association between polyploid frequency and environment has emerged. Climatic factors are expected to predict cytotype distribution. However, the relationship between climate, cytotype distribution and variation of abiotic stress tolerance traits has rarely been examined.Here, we use flow cytometry and root-tip squashes to examine the cytotype distribution in the temperate annual grass Brachypodium distachyon in 57 natural populations distributed across an aridity gradient in the Iberian Peninsula. We further investigate the link between environmental aridity, ploidy, and variation of drought tolerance and drought avoidance (flowering time) traits.istribution of diploids (2n = 10) and allotetraploids (2n = 30) in this species is geographically structured throughout its range in the Iberian Peninsula, and is associated with aridity gradients. Importantly, after controlling for geographic and altitudinal effects, the link between aridity and polyploidization occurrence persisted. Water use efficiency varied between ploidy levels, with tetraploids being more efficient in the use of water than diploids under water-restricted growing conditions.Our results indicate that aridity is an important predictor of polyploid occurrence in B. distachyon, suggesting a possible adaptive origin of the cytotype segregation.

Understanding the movement of species' ranges is a classic ecological problem that takes on urgency in this era of global change. Historically treated as a purely ecological process, range expansion is now understood to involve eco-evolutionary feedbacks due to spatial genetic structure that emerges as populations spread. We synthesize empirical and theoretical work on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of range expansion, with emphasis on bridging directional, deterministic processes that favor evolved increases in dispersal and demographic traits with stochastic processes that lead to the random fixation of alleles and traits. We develop a framework for understanding the joint influence of these processes in changing the mean and variance of expansion speed and its underlying traits. Our synthesis of recent laboratory experiments supports the consistent role of evolution in accelerating expansion speed on average, and highlights unexpected diversity in how evolution can influence variability in speed: results not well predicted by current theory. We discuss and evaluate support for three classes of modifiers of eco-evolutionary range dynamics (landscape context, trait genetics, and biotic interactions), identify emerging themes, and suggest new directions for future work in a field that stands to increase in relevance as populations move in response to global change.

Colonization and expansion into novel landscapes determine the distribution and abundance of species in our rapidly changing ecosystems worldwide. Colonization events are crucibles for rapid evolution, but it is not known whether evolutionary changes arise mainly after successful colonization has occurred, or if evolution plays an immediate role, governing the growth and expansion speed of colonizing populations. There is evidence that spatial evolutionary processes can speed range expansion within a few generations because dispersal tendencies may evolve upwards at range edges. Additionally, rapid adaptation to a novel environment can increase population growth rates, which also promotes spread. However, the role of adaptive evolution and the relative contributions of spatial evolution and adaptation to expansion are unclear. Using a model system, red flour beetles (), we either allowed or constrained evolution of populations colonizing a novel environment and measured population growth and spread. At the end of the experiment we assessed the fitness and dispersal tendency of individuals originating either from the core or edge of evolving populations or from nonevolving populations in a common garden. Within six generations, evolving populations grew three times larger and spread 46% faster than populations in which evolution was constrained. Increased size and expansion speed were strongly driven by adaptation, whereas spatial evolutionary processes acting on edge subpopulations contributed less. This experimental evidence demonstrates that rapid evolution drives both population growth and expansion speed and is thus crucial to consider for managing biological invasions and successfully introducing or reintroducing species for management and conservation.

Differences in tolerance to water stress may underlie ecological divergence of closely-related ploidy lineages. However, the mechanistic basis of physiological variation governing eco-geographical cytotype segregation is not well understood. Here, using Brachypodium distachyon and its derived allotetraploid B. hybridum as model, we test the hypothesis that, for heteroploid annuals, ecological divergence of polyploids in drier environments is based on trait differentiation enabling drought-escape. We demonstrate that under water limitation allotetraploids maintain higher photosynthesis and stomatal conductance and show earlier flowering than diploids, concordant with a drought-escape strategy to cope with water stress. Increased heterozygosity, greater genetic variability and plasticity of polyploids could confer a superior adaptive capability. Consistent with these predictions, we document (1) greater standing within-population genetic variation in water use efficiency and flowering time in allotetraploids, and (2) the existence of (non-linear) environmental clines in physiology across allotetraploid populations. Increased gas exchange and diminished WUE occurred at the driest end of the gradient, consistent with a drought-escape strategy. Finally, we found that allotetraploids showed weaker genetic correlations than diploids congruous with the expectation of relaxed pleiotropic constraints in polyploids. Our results suggest evolutionary divergence of ecophysiological traits in each ploidy lineage.