Fertile Crescent crop progenitors gained a competitive advantage from large seedlings

Abstract

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Disparities among crop species in the evolution of growth rates: the role of distinct origins and domestication histories

“…Despite the increasing number of studies addressing domestication from an eco‐evolutionary perspective or a trait‐based approach (e.g. Blesh, 2018; Martin et al ., 2018; Roucou et al ., 2018; Chacón‐Labella et al ., 2019; Preece et al ., 2021), there is a lack of comparative work assessing the evolution of growth dynamics in cultivation.…”

Emerging evidence of plant domestication as a landscape-level process

“…This observation could possibly be explained by competition. Seedling competition has been suggested as a mechanism for increases in seed size based on archaeological data [17,69,70], and a similar conclusion was recently reached from examining competition between seedlings of different wild progenitor species in disturbed human environments [71]. One intuitive expectation of competition is that, as more effective competitors prevail, diminishing resource availability will intensify the removal of the less competitive.…”

A new functional ecological model reveals the nature of early plant management in southwest Asia

“…The documented size increase in barley and einkorn grains throughout the occupation of the site 6 therefore seems to be related to factors other than deeper burial conditions in tilled soils, supporting recent studies that raised doubts over a general relationship between soil disturbance and selection for larger seeds 49 . Large-seeded phenotypes have strong competitive advantages under conditions of high interspecific competition due to their higher germination success and larger plant size 50 . Under conditions of relatively low soil disturbance, selection for larger seeds could in part be linked to these competitive advantages gained through seed size enlargement, resulting in larger seedlings that can more optimally exploit the increasingly productive conditions during the Early Holocene and surrounding human habitations 50 .…”

“…Large-seeded phenotypes have strong competitive advantages under conditions of high interspecific competition due to their higher germination success and larger plant size 50 . Under conditions of relatively low soil disturbance, selection for larger seeds could in part be linked to these competitive advantages gained through seed size enlargement, resulting in larger seedlings that can more optimally exploit the increasingly productive conditions during the Early Holocene and surrounding human habitations 50 .…”