Anthropogenic Seed Dispersal: Rethinking the Origins of Plant Domestication

Spengler, Robert N.

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2020.01.005

Cited by 54 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The earliest traits of domestication in plants are associated with changes in seed-dispersal mechanisms (Rindos, 1984); this is well-recognized in the switch from dispersal by brittle rachises in wild cereals to sickle harvesting and seed sowing by humans, causing an evolutionary shift to the tough-rachised allele in the cultivated population (Ladizinsky, 1979;Fuller and Allaby, 2009;Langlie et al, 2014;Larson et al, 2014;Li and Olsen, 2016;Jones et al, 2021). Most of the earliest plants to express evolutionary traits of domestication had seeds that were dispersed by animals in their wild forms (Spengler, 2020). These endozoochoric crop progenitors fall into two broad categories, plants with fleshy fruits and annual herbaceous plants with small seeds-in both cases, megafaunal mammals likely played a primary role as seed dispersers.…”

Section: Plant Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather than looking at possible economic pressures associated with the megafaunal extinctions, we look at changes in evolutionary pressures in plants and shifting ecosystem dynamics. We argue that the ecological ramifications of the late Quaternary extinctions set the stage for domestication in certain endozoochoric plants (Rindos, 1984;Purugganan and Fuller, 2009;Kistler et al, 2015;Spengler, 2019Spengler, , 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Angiosperms are particularly adept at developing such mutualisms, and essentially all domesticated plants are angiosperms (Tiffney, 2004;Eriksson, 2008). The evolution of early domestication traits in plants is an example of the recruitment of humans for ecological services, notably seed dispersal (Spengler, 2020). Animals cyclically evolve into larger lifeforms, which fill a keystone ecological niche, but are highly susceptible to population collapse and extinction (Ferretti, 2008;Froyd et al, 2014;Estes et al, 2016;Malhi et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two main categories of endozoochoric (dispersed through animal ingestion) plants include: (1) those that produce fleshy fruits (Janzen and Martin, 1982) and 2annual herbaceous plants with small seeds (Janzen, 1984). Most of the first traits of domestication in plants during the early or mid-Holocene were associated with seed dispersal via one of these two categories (Rindos, 1984;Spengler, 2020; Figure 1; Table 1). Given that, these traits allowed for mutualisms in the wild, their importance under cultivation implies an exaptation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exaptation Traits for Megafaunal Mutualisms as a Factor in Plant Domestication

et al. 2021

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Megafaunal extinctions are recurring events that cause evolutionary ripples, as cascades of secondary extinctions and shifting selective pressures reshape ecosystems. Megafaunal browsers and grazers are major ecosystem engineers, they: keep woody vegetation suppressed; are nitrogen cyclers; and serve as seed dispersers. Most angiosperms possess sets of physiological traits that allow for the fixation of mutualisms with megafauna; some of these traits appear to serve as exaptation (preadaptation) features for farming. As an easily recognized example, fleshy fruits are, an exaptation to agriculture, as they evolved to recruit a non-human disperser. We hypothesize that the traits of rapid annual growth, self-compatibility, heavy investment in reproduction, high plasticity (wide reaction norms), and rapid evolvability were part of an adaptive syndrome for megafaunal seed dispersal. We review the evolutionary importance that megafauna had for crop and weed progenitors and discuss possible ramifications of their extinction on: (1) seed dispersal; (2) population dynamics; and (3) habitat loss. Humans replaced some of the ecological services that had been lost as a result of late Quaternary extinctions and drove rapid evolutionary change resulting in domestication.

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Section: Plant Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exaptation Traits for Megafaunal Mutualisms as a Factor in Plant Domestication

et al. 2021

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“…Early agroecological systems favored highly competitive species. In addition, the early ability to “recruit” humans for seed dispersal has been suggested as fitness advantage of successfully domesticated crops (Spengler, 2020). The ancestors of several minor crops are less competitive, which slowed down the onset of domestication of these crops.…”

Section: Other Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits and constraints to crop domestication

Stetter

2020

American J of Botany

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Loss of Reproductive Organ Separation Zones as Adaptation to Anthropogenic Seed‐Dispersal‐Based Mutualism

Baeyer

Tranbarger

Spengler

2022

Annual Plant Reviews Online

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Domestication, or the evolutionary adaptation of organisms to anthropogenic ecosystems, is a key area of research that links the biological and social sciences. The domestication of a select few species of angiosperms (notably in Poaceae and Fabaceae) played a prominent role in driving the demographic and cultural changes that led humanity into the modern world. The earliest phenotypic changes in plants during the first stages of the domestication process in each of the independent centres of domestication around the world include: (i) an increase in seed size (possibly pleiotropically linked to an overall increase in plant mass) and (ii) a loss of traits for seed dispersal, notably a loss of function in separation zones, abscission or dehiscence, resulting in seeds that remain attached to the plant. Archaeobotanists and geneticists have heavily focused on the evolution of these two sets of traits, tracing out their timing and pathways towards introgression; however, there are still ongoing debates related to the role of humans in this process and what specific ecological factors during the transition to agriculture changed selective pressures. In this article, we review what is known about the ecology of seed‐dispersal mechanisms in crop lineages before and after their adoption into cultivation systems; we specifically focus on abscission and dehiscence zones as archaeologically visible features directly associated with seed dispersal.

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Anthropogenic Seed Dispersal: Rethinking the Origins of Plant Domestication

Cited by 54 publications

References 59 publications

Exaptation Traits for Megafaunal Mutualisms as a Factor in Plant Domestication

Exaptation Traits for Megafaunal Mutualisms as a Factor in Plant Domestication

Limits and constraints to crop domestication

Loss of Reproductive Organ Separation Zones as Adaptation to Anthropogenic Seed‐Dispersal‐Based Mutualism

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