Coevolution in a warming world: an experimental test of the geographic mosaic of coevolution

<p dir="ltr"><a href="" target="_blank">According to the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution (GMTC)</a><a href="" target="_blank">, coevolution varies with abiotic and biotic environmental factors.</a> We assessed this hypothesis using experimental plant-butterfly coevolution and by testing the effects of temperature and the presence of mutualistic bumblebees on co-divergence during six generations of selection. Butterflies are mutualistic by pollinating plants and antagonistic by ovipositing on plants from which caterpillars feed.

We found unique plant-butterfly coevolutionary trajectories in response to abiotic and biotic factors: plants evolved strong herbivore resistance when exposed to either bumblebee presence or elevated temperatures, while their combination led to less strong plant-resistance evolution and the evolution of butterfly-foraging traits. We provide experimental proof for the GMTC and show rapid divergent coevolution to the combination of local abiotic and biotic conditions.</p><p><br></p><p dir="ltr">Data description: </p><p dir="ltr">Excel file containing raw data of plant and butterfly traits.</p><p dir="ltr">The R script contains generic code to exemplify how the above raw data was analyzed.