Garrett M Janzen, María Rocío Aguilar-Rangel, Carolina Cíntora-Martínez, Karla Azucena Blöcher-Juárez, Eric González-Segovia, Anthony J Studer, Daniel E Runcie, Sherry A Flint-Garcia, Rubén Rellán-Álvarez, Ruairidh J H Sawers, Matthew B Hufford
Populations are locally adapted when they exhibit higher fitness than foreign populations in their native habitat. Maize landrace adaptations to highland and lowland conditions are of interest to researchers and breeders. To determine the prevalence and strength of local adaptation in maize landraces, we performed a reciprocal transplant experiment across an elevational gradient in Mexico. We grew 120 landraces, grouped into four populations (Mexican Highland, Mexican Lowland, South American Highland, South American Lowland), in Mexican highland and lowland common gardens and collected phenotypes relevant to fitness and known highland-adaptive traits such as anthocyanin pigmentation and macrohair density...
May 2022: Evolutionary Applications