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The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration calls for upscaling restoration efforts, but many terrestrial restoration projects are constrained by seed availability. To overcome these constraints, wild plants are increasingly propagated on farms to produce seeds for restoration projects. During on-farm propagation, the plants face non-natural conditions with different selection pressures, and they might evolve adaptations to cultivation that parallel those of agricultural crops, which could be detrimental to restoration success. To test this, we compared traits of 19 species grown from wild-collected seeds to those from their farm-propagated offspring of up to four cultivation generations, produced by two European seed growers, in a common garden experiment. We found that some plants rapidly evolved across cultivated generations towards increased size and reproduction, lower within-species variability, and more synchronized flowering. In one species, we found evolution towards less seed shattering. These trait changes are typical signs of the crop domestication syndrome, and our study demonstrates that it can also occur during cultivation of wild plants, within only few cultivated generations. However, there was large variability between cultivation lineages, and the observed effect sizes were generally rather moderate, which suggests that the detected evolutionary changes are unlikely to compromise farm-propagated seeds for ecosystem restoration. To mitigate the potential negative effects of unintended selection, we recommend to limit the maximum number of generations the plants can be cultivated without replenishing the seed stock from new wild collections.

Ongoing global warming and increasing drought frequencies impact plant populations and potentially drive rapid evolutionary adaptations. Historical comparisons, where plants grown from seeds collected in the past are compared to plants grown from freshly collected seeds from populations of the same sites, are a powerful method to investigate recent evolutionary changes across many taxa. We used 21-38 year-old seeds of 13 European plant species, stored in seed banks and originating from Mediterranean and temperate regions, together with recently collected seeds from the same sites for a greenhouse experiment to investigate shifts in flowering phenology as a potential result of adaptive evolution to changes in drought intensities over the last decades. We further used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers to quantify relatedness and levels of genetic variation. We found that, across species, current populations grew faster and advanced their flowering. These shifts were correlated with changes in aridity at the population origins, suggesting that increased drought induced evolution of earlier flowering, whereas decreased drought lead to weak or inverse shifts in flowering phenology. In five out of the 13 species, however, the SNP markers detected strong differences in genetic variation and relatedness between the past and current populations collected, indicating that other evolutionary processes may have contributed to changes in phenotypes. Our results suggest that changes in aridity may have influenced the evolutionary trajectories of many plant species in different regions of Europe, and that flowering phenology may be one of the key traits that is rapidly evolving.

A growing number of restoration projects require large amounts of seeds. As harvesting natural populations cannot cover the demand, wild plants are often propagated in large-scale monocultures. There are concerns that this cultivation process may cause genetic drift and unintended selection, altering the genetic properties of the cultivated populations and reducing their genetic diversity. Such changes could reduce the pre-existing adaptation of restored populations and limit their adaptability to environmental change.We used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and a pool-sequencing approach to test for genetic differentiation and changes in gene diversity during cultivation in 19 wild grassland species, comparing source populations and up to four consecutive cultivation generations. We linked the magnitudes of genetic changes to the species’ breeding systems and seed dormancy to understand the roles of these traits in genetic change.Cultivation changed the genetic composition across cultivated generations only moderately. The genetic differentiation resulting from cultivation was much lower than the natural genetic differentiation between different source regions. The propagated generations harbored even higher gene diversity than wild-collected seeds. Genetic change was stronger in self-compatible than self-incompatible species, probably due to increased outcrossing in monocultures.Synthesis and applications: Our study suggests that large-scale seed production maintains the genetic integrity of natural populations. Increased genetic diversity may even indicate increased adaptive potential of propagated seeds, which would make them especially suitable for ecological restoration. Yet, it remains to be tested whether these molecular patterns will be mirrored also by plant phenotypes. Further, we used seeds from Germany and Austria, where the seed production is regulated and certified, and we do not know yet whether other seed production systems perform equal

A growing number of restoration projects require large amounts of seeds. As harvesting natural populations cannot cover the demand, wild plants are often propagated in large-scale monocultures. There are concerns that this cultivation process may cause genetic drift and unintended selection, altering the genetic properties of the cultivated populations and reducing their genetic diversity. Such changes could reduce the pre-existing adaptation of restored populations and limit their adaptability to environmental change.We used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and a pool-sequencing approach to test for genetic differentiation and changes in gene diversity during cultivation in 19 wild grassland species, comparing source populations and up to four consecutive cultivation generations. We linked the magnitudes of genetic changes to the species’ breeding systems and seed dormancy to understand the roles of these traits in genetic change.Cultivation changed the genetic composition across cultivated generations only moderately. The genetic differentiation resulting from cultivation was much lower than the natural genetic differentiation between different source regions. The propagated generations harbored even higher gene diversity than wild-collected seeds. Genetic change was stronger in self-compatible than self-incompatible species, probably due to increased outcrossing in monocultures.Synthesis and applications: Our study suggests that large-scale seed production maintains the genetic integrity of natural populations. Increased genetic diversity may even indicate increased adaptive potential of propagated seeds, which would make them especially suitable for ecological restoration. Yet, it remains to be tested whether these molecular patterns will be mirrored also by plant phenotypes. Further, we used seeds from Germany and Austria, where the seed production is regulated and certified, and we do not know yet whether other seed production systems perform equal

Ongoing global warming, coupled with increased drought frequencies, together with other biotic drivers may have resulted in complex evolutionary adaptation. The resurrection approach, comparing ancestors raised from stored seeds with their contemporary descendants under common conditions, is a powerful method to test for recent evolution in plant populations. We used 21-26-year-old seeds of four European plant species – Matthiola tricuspidata, Plantago crassifolia, Clinopodium vulgare and Leontodon hispidus – stored in seed banks together with re-collected seeds from their wild populations. To test for evolutionary changes, we conducted a greenhouse experiment that quantified heritable changes in plant responses to drought and simulated insect herbivory. In three out of the four studied species, we found evidence that descendants evolved shorter life cycles through faster growth and flowering. Shifts in the osmotic potential and leaf dry matter content indicated that descendants also evolved increased drought tolerance. A comparison of QST vs. FST values, using ddRAD genotyping data, suggested that directional selection, and therefore adaptive evolution, was underlying some of the observed phenotypic changes. In summary, our study reveals evolutionary changes in plant populations over the last decades that are consistent with adaptation of drought escape and tolerance as well as herbivory avoidance.

A growing number of restoration projects require large amounts of seeds. As harvesting natural populations cannot cover the demand, wild plants are often propagated in large-scale monocultures. There are concerns that this cultivation process may cause genetic drift and unintended selection, altering the genetic properties of the cultivated populations and reducing their genetic diversity. Such changes could reduce the pre-existing adaptation of restored populations and limit their adaptability to environmental change.We used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and a pool-sequencing approach to test for genetic differentiation and changes in gene diversity during cultivation in 19 wild grassland species, comparing source populations and up to four consecutive cultivation generations. We linked the magnitudes of genetic changes to the species’ breeding systems and seed dormancy to understand the roles of these traits in genetic change.Cultivation changed the genetic composition across cultivated generations only moderately. The genetic differentiation resulting from cultivation was much lower than the natural genetic differentiation between different source regions. The propagated generations harbored even higher gene diversity than wild-collected seeds. Genetic change was stronger in self-compatible than self-incompatible species, probably due to increased outcrossing in monocultures.Synthesis and applications: Our study suggests that large-scale seed production maintains the genetic integrity of natural populations. Increased genetic diversity may even indicate increased adaptive potential of propagated seeds, which would make them especially suitable for ecological restoration. Yet, it remains to be tested whether these molecular patterns will be mirrored also by plant phenotypes. Further, we used seeds from Germany and Austria, where the seed production is regulated and certified, and we do not know yet whether other seed production systems perform equal

Plants must continuously respond to environmental changes, and a timely question is whether and how populations respond to ongoing global warming and increased drought frequencies and intensities. Plants can either respond through migration or through phenotypic plasticity or their populations can adapt evolutionarily, which encompasses the evolution of trait means and of trait plasticity. One way to detect such evolutionary changes within plant populations is through historical comparisons where plants grown from seeds collected in the past (“ancestors”) are compared to freshly collected seeds from the same populations (“descendants”) in common garden experiments. We used 21- to 26-year-old seeds stored in seed banks for two multi-species experiments that investigated changes in phenotypic traits and their plasticity conferring drought tolerance in early life stages of European plant species. In the first experiment, we used seedlings of four Mediterranean species, ceased watering and recorded their day of mortality. In the second experiment, we studied phenotypic responses to drought in juvenile plants of nine species originating from temperate regions in Europe. In one of four species in the first experiment, descendants survived significantly longer without watering and were smaller than their ancestors. In the second experiment, descendant plants were generally taller under well-watered conditions but smaller under drought than their ancestors, thus showing stronger plasticity. Our historical comparisons suggest that some populations have likely evolved through changes in trait means and plasticity in ways consistent with adaptation to increased drought. Using seed bank material for historical comparisons has several weaknesses, such as unknown sampling protocols or invisible fractions. However, we show how accurately sampled and stored seed bank collections can be used similar to the resurrection approach for investigating rapid evolutionary processes in early

Ab dem Jahr 2020 ist bei der Neuanlage von Grasland in der freien Landschaft die Verwendung gebietseigenen Saatguts („Regiosaatgut“) gesetzlich vorgeschrieben. Das Regiosaatgut-Konzept beruht auf der Annahme, dass Pflanzen unterschiedlicher Regionen genetisch verschieden und an die jeweiligen Umweltbedingungen angepasst sind. Wir überprüften dies an sieben Arten aus acht Regionen mit genetischen Markern und in Anzuchtexperimenten. Bei allen Arten waren die Pflanzen aus verschiedenen Regionen genetisch unterschiedlich, wobei Arrhenatherum elatius und Daucus carota schwache, Galium album, Hypochaeris radicata und Centaurea jacea intermediäre, Lychnis flos-cuculi und Knautia arvensis die stärkste Differenzierung zeigten. Bei vier Arten nahmen die Unterschiede mit der Entfernung der Herkünfte oder mit Klimaunterschieden der Regionen zu. Regionale Pflanzen hatten mehr Blüten und Biomasse als nicht regionale. Die Mehrzahl der Arten zeigte abnehmende Fitness und abweichendes Blühverhalten mit zunehmender Entfernung der Herkünfte oder zunehmenden Klimaunterschieden. Auch die Insekten in Blütenköpfen unterschieden sich. Somit sind viele Graslandarten regional angepasst. Die Eignung von Saatgut nimmt mit zunehmender Entfernung zwischen Einsatzort und Herkunftsregion ab. From the year 2020 on, the use of autochthonous seed (in German: Regiosaatgut) is mandatory for restoration of grassland in the open landscape. The Regiosaatgut system is based on the assumption that plant populations from different regions are genetically differentiated and adapted to their respective environments. We tested this with seven grassland species from eight regions using molecular markers and transplant experiments. In all species, regions were genetically differentiated, with Arrhenatherum elatius and Daucus carota exhibiting the weakest, Galium album, Hypochaeris radicata and Centaurea jacea intermediate, and Lychnis flos-cuculi and Knautia arvensis the strongest differentiation. In four species

The growing number of restoration projects worldwide increases the demand for seed material of native species. To meet this demand, seeds are often produced through large‐scale cultivation on specialised farms, using wild‐collected seeds as the original sources. However, during cultivation, plants experience novel environmental conditions compared to those in natural populations, and there is a danger that the plants in cultivation are subject to unintended selection and lose their adaptation to natural habitats. Although the propagation methods are usually designed to maintain as much natural genetic diversity as possible, the effectiveness of these measures have never been tested.We obtained seed of five common grassland species from one of the largest native seed producers in Germany. For each species, the seeds were from multiple generations of seed production. We used AFLP markers and a common garden experiment to test for genetic and phenotypic changes during cultivation of these plants.The molecular markers detected significant evolutionary changes in three out of the five species and we found significant phenotypic changes in two species. The only species that showed substantial genetic and phenotypic changes was the short‐lived and predominantly selfing Medicago lupulina, while in the other, mostly perennial and outcrossing species, the observed changes were mostly minor. Agricultural propagation of native seed material for restoration can cause evolutionary changes, at least in some species. We recommend caution, particularly in selfing and short‐lived species, where evolution may be more rapid and effects may thus be more severe.

One of the main questions in ecosystem restoration is where to obtain the seeds to re-establish plant communities. While the most commonly advocated approach is to use seeds from local sources, some experts argue against this because local populations may harbour little genetic variability for the restored populations to be able to adapt to and survive global change. Instead, they propose alternative strategies such as mixing seeds from various sources to increase genetic variability and adaptive potential, or using seeds from populations that have a similar climate as predicted for the target locality in the future. All these alternative seed-sourcing strategies have in common that they involve a transplanting of plant ecotypes, sometimes over large spatial scales. This is risky because plants from distant origins may be maladapted to the current local abiotic and biotic environment. In addition, introduction of non-local provenances will disrupt natural patterns of within-species biodiversity and will affect ecological networks, with unpredictable consequences. To balance the value of local adaptation with the need for future adaptation potential, we propose ‘regional admixture provenancing’ as a compromise strategy. Here seeds are sourced from multiple populations within the same region as the target locality and mixed prior to use. The mixing of seeds will increase the genetic diversity necessary for future adaptation, while restricting seed origins to a regional scale will maintain regional adaptation and reduce the risk of unintended effects on other biota. This approach is feasible in practice and has recently been implemented in Germany. We believe that it represents a compromise to reconcile opposing views on ecological restoration.

One of the key questions in ecosystem restoration is the choice of the seed material for restoring plant communities. The most common strategy is to use local seed sources, based on the argument that many plants are locally adapted and thus local seed sources should provide the best restoration success. However, the evidence for local adaptation is inconsistent, and some of these inconsistencies may be due to different experimental approaches that have been used to test for local adaptation. We illustrate how conclusions about local adaptation depend on the experimental design and in particular on the method of data analysis. We used data from a multispecies reciprocal transplant experiment and analyzed them in three different ways: (1) comparing local vs. foreign plants within species and sites, corresponding to tests of the “local is best” paradigm in ecological restoration, (2) comparing sympatric vs. allopatric populations across sites but within species, and (3) comparing sympatric and allopatric populations across multiple species. These approaches reflect different experimental designs: While a local vs. foreign comparison can be done even in small experiments with a single species and site, the other two approaches require a reciprocal transplant experiment with one or multiple species, respectively. The three different analyses led to contrasting results. While the local/foreign approach indicated lack of local adaptation or even maladaptation, the more general sympatric/allopatric approach rather suggested local adaptation, and the most general cross-species sympatric/allopatric test provided significant evidence for local adaptation. The analyses demonstrate how the design of experiments and methods of data analysis impact conclusions on the presence or absence of local adaptation. While small-scale, single-species experiments may be useful for identifying the appropriate seed material for a specific restoration project, general patterns can only be detec

Growing evidence shows that epigenetic mechanisms contribute to complex traits, with implications across many fields of biology. In plant ecology, recent studies have attempted to merge ecological experiments with epigenetic analyses to elucidate the contribution of epigenetics to plant phenotypes, stress responses, adaptation to habitat, and range distributions. While there has been some progress in revealing the role of epigenetics in ecological processes, studies with non-model species have so far been limited to describing broad patterns based on anonymous markers of DNA methylation. In contrast, studies with model species have benefited from powerful genomic resources, which contribute to a more mechanistic understanding but have limited ecological realism. Understanding the significance of epigenetics for plant ecology requires increased transfer of knowledge and methods from model species research to genomes of evolutionarily divergent species, and examination of responses to complex natural environments at a more mechanistic level. This requires transforming genomics tools specifically for studying non-model species, which is challenging given the large and often polyploid genomes of plants. Collaboration among molecular geneticists, ecologists and bioinformaticians promises to enhance our understanding of the mutual links between genome function and ecological processes.

Land-use change is an important component of global environmental change and a major driver of current declines in biodiversity. Although there is increasing evidence that species can evolve rapidly in response to anthropogenic environmental change, comprehensive studies of the evolutionary consequences of land use are still fairly scarce, in particular such that consider multiple species, study many populations, or that discriminate between different aspects of land use.Here, we studied genetic change of key phenotypic traits in response to land use in eight common grassland species across 137 grassland sites covering a broad range of land-use types (mowing and/or grazing, with or without fertilization) and intensities in three regions of Germany.A common garden study revealed significant genetic differentiation in response to land-use intensification within all of the investigated species. Among the studied land-use processes, mowing appeared to have the strongest effect on the differentiation of plant phenotypes, with flowering phenology as the most responsive trait. However, there was substantial variation among species in the magnitude, sometimes also the direction of the observed population differentiation.Synthesis. Our study demonstrates that evolutionary responses of grassland plants to land-use change are a common phenomenon and widespread across a broad range of different species. These evolutionary changes are likely to impact biotic interactions, as well as the structure and functioning of communities and ecosystems.

With ongoing climate change, many plant species may not be able to adapt rapidly enough, and some conservation experts are therefore considering to translocate warm-adapted ecotypes to mitigate effects of climate warming. Although this strategy, called assisted migration, is intuitively plausible, most of the support comes from models, whereas experimental evidence is so far scarce. Here we present data on multiple ecotypes of six grassland species, which we grew in four common gardens in Germany during a natural heat wave, with temperatures 1.4–2.0°C higher than the long-term means. In each garden we compared the performance of regional ecotypes with plants from a locality with long-term summer temperatures similar to what the plants experienced during the summer heat wave. We found no difference in performance between regional and warm-adapted plants in four of the six species. In two species, regional ecotypes even outperformed warm-adapted plants, despite elevated temperatures, which suggests that translocating warm-adapted ecotypes may not only lack the desired effect of increased performance but may even have negative consequences. Even if adaptation to climate plays a role, other factors involved in local adaptation, such as biotic interactions, may override it. Based on our results, we cannot advocate assisted migration as a universal tool to enhance the performance of local plant populations and communities during climate change.

One of the key questions in ecosystem restoration is the choice of seed material for restoring plant communities. More and more scientists and practitioners are currently advocating the use of regional seed sources, based on the argument that plants are often adapted to local or regional environmental conditions, and thus, regional seed sources should provide the best restoration success. However, there is still substantial debate about this approach, partly because of a lack of solid empirical data.We conducted a multispecies transplant experiment in which we compared the performance of eight seed origins of seven plant species frequently used in grassland restoration in four common gardens across Germany.We found that, on average, plants of regional origins produced 10% more inflorescences and 7% more biomass than those of foreign origins. There were substantial differences among species in the strength of these effects, but in the majority of the study species fitness decreased with increasing geographical distance of seed origins or with increasing climatic differences between plant origins and experimental sites.In addition to these effects on plant fitness, increasing geographical or climatic distances of origin were often also correlated with increasing differences in plant phenology. Since phenology is important for biotic interactions, especially with pollinators and seed predators, using foreign seed sources may have cascading effects on local ecosystems.Synthesis and applications. Genetic differentiation is widespread in grassland species and often shows the patterns of regional adaptation. Our study thus supports the use of regional seed sources in restoration. Moreover, using non-regional seed sources in grassland restoration may not only decrease the performance of plants, but it will likely also affect their biotic interactions.

Ecological restoration of grasslands is increasingly based on regional seeds derived from predefined seed transfer zones. However, the degree and spatial pattern of genetic differentiation among provenances of different seed transfer zones is largely unknown.We assessed the genetic differentiation among eight out of 22 German seed transfer zones for seven common grassland species (Arrhenatherum elatius, Centaurea jacea, Daucus carota, Galium album, Hypochaeris radicata, Knautia arvensis and Lychnis flos-cuculi) using AFLP markers. We analysed genetic population structure with AMOVA and Bayesian cluster analysis and tested for isolation by distance and isolation by environment.In all of the investigated species, almost all pairs of provenances were genetically differentiated. Bayesian cluster analysis revealed species-specific numbers and spatial patterns of gene pools, with between two (Arrhenatherum) and eight clusters (Lychnis). Most investigated seed transfer zones represented a unique gene pool in the majority of the species.We found isolation by distance in four species, isolation by environment, driven by climatic seasonality, in three species, and a lack of both in three species. Thus, the observed genetic differentiation appears to be caused by both neutral and adaptive processes.Synthesis and applications. Our study shows that grassland plants are indeed strongly genetically differentiated across Germany supporting the strategy of seed transfer zones for ecological restoration. Although the predefined seed transfer zones are unlikely to match the exact genetic structure of many species, they serve their purpose by capturing a substantial amount of intraspecific genetic variation across species.

Land-use intensification is a key driver of biodiversity change. However, little is known about how it alters relationships between the diversities of different taxonomic groups, which are often correlated due to shared environmental drivers and trophic interactions. Using data from 150 grassland sites, we examined how land-use intensification (increased fertilization, higher livestock densities, and increased mowing frequency) altered correlations between the species richness of 15 plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate taxa. We found that 54% of pairwise correlations between taxonomic groups were significant and positive among all grasslands, while only one was negative. Higher land-use intensity substantially weakened these correlations (35% decrease in r and 43% fewer significant pairwise correlations at high intensity), a pattern which may emerge as a result of biodiversity declines and the breakdown of specialized relationships in these conditions. Nevertheless, some groups (Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Hymenoptera and Orthoptera) were consistently correlated with multidiversity, an aggregate measure of total biodiversity comprised of the standardized diversities of multiple taxa, at both high and low land-use intensity. The form of intensification was also important; increased fertilization and mowing frequency typically weakened plant–plant and plant–primary consumer correlations, whereas grazing intensification did not. This may reflect decreased habitat heterogeneity under mowing and fertilization and increased habitat heterogeneity under grazing. While these results urge caution in using certain taxonomic groups to monitor impacts of agricultural management on biodiversity, they also suggest that the diversities of some groups are reasonably robust indicators of total biodiversity across a range of conditions.Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/10.1890/14-1307.1

Current threats to biodiversity, such as climate change, are thought to alter the within-species genetic diversity among microhabitats in highly heterogeneous alpine environments. Assessing the spatial organization and dynamics of genetic diversity within species can help to predict the responses of organisms to environmental change. In this study, we evaluated whether small-scale heterogeneity in snowmelt timing restricts gene flow between microhabitats in the common long-lived dwarf shrub Salix herbacea L. We surveyed 273 genets across 12 early-and late-snowmelt sites (that is, ridges and snowbeds) in the Swiss Alps for phenological variation over 2 years and for genetic variation using seven SSR markers. Phenological differentiation triggered by differences in snowmelt timing did not correlate with genetic differentiation between microhabitats. On the contrary, extensive gene flow appeared to occur between microhabitats and slightly less extensively among adjacent mountains. However, ridges exhibited significantly lower levels of genetic diversity than snowbeds, and patterns of effective population size (Ne) and migration (Nem) between microhabitats were strongly asymmetric, with ridges acting as sources and snowbeds as sinks. As no recent genetic bottlenecks were detected in the studied sites, this asymmetry is likely to reflect current metapopulation dynamics of the species dominated by gene flow via seeds rather than ancient re-colonization after the last glacial period. Overall, our results suggest that seed dispersal prevents snowmelt-driven genetic isolation, and snowbeds act as sinks of genetic diversity. We discuss the consequences of such small-scale variation in gene flow and diversity levels for population responses to climate change.

Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation.

Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis). This species is sensitive to its thermal environment and exhibits several polymorphisms of shell colour and banding pattern affecting shell albedo in the majority of populations within its native range in Europe. We tested for evolutionary changes in shell albedo that might have been driven by the warming of the climate in Europe over the last half century by compiling an historical dataset for 6,515 native populations of C. nemoralis and comparing this with new data on nearly 3,000 populations. The new data were sampled mainly in 2009 through the Evolution MegaLab, a citizen science project that engaged thousands of volunteers in 15 countries throughout Europe in the biggest such exercise ever undertaken. A known geographic cline in the frequency of the colour phenotype with the highest albedo (yellow) was shown to have persisted and a difference in colour frequency between woodland and more open habitats was confirmed, but there was no general increase in the frequency of yellow shells. This may have been because snails adapted to a warming climate through behavioural thermoregulation. By contrast, we detected an unexpected decrease in the frequency of Unbanded shells and an increase in the Mid-banded morph. Neither of these evolutionary changes appears to be a direct response to climate change, indicating that the influence of other selective agents, possibly related to changing predation pressure and habitat change with effects on micro-climate.

Functional biodiversity research explores drivers and functional consequences of biodiversity changes. Land use change is a major driver of changes of biodiversity and of biogeochemical and biological ecosystem processes and services. However, land use effects on genetic and species diversity are well documented only for a few taxa and trophic networks. We hardly know how different components of biodiversity and their responses to land use change are interrelated and very little about the simultaneous, and interacting, effects of land use on multiple ecosystem processes and services. Moreover, we do not know to what extent land use effects on ecosystem processes and services are mediated by biodiversity change. Thus, overall goals are on the one hand to understand the effects of land use on biodiversity, and on the other to understand the modifying role of biodiversity change for land-use effects on ecosystem processes, including biogeochemical cycles. To comprehensively address these important questions, we recently established a new large-scale and long-term project for functional biodiversity, the Biodiversity Exploratories (). They comprise a hierarchical set of standardized field plots in three different regions of Germany covering manifold management types and intensities in grasslands and forests. They serve as a joint research platform for currently 40 projects involving over 300 people studying various aspects of the relationships between land use, biodiversity and ecosystem processes through monitoring, comparative observation and experiments. We introduce guiding questions, concept and design of the Biodiversity Exploratories - including main aspects of selection and implementation of field plots and project structure - and we discuss the significance of this approach for further functional biodiversity research. This includes the crucial relevance of a common study design encompassing variation in both drivers and outcomes of biodiversity change and ecos

Current threats to biodiversity, such as climate change, are thought to alter the within-species genetic diversity among microhabitats in highly heterogeneous alpine environments. Assessing the spatial organization and dynamics of genetic diversity within species can help to predict the responses of organisms to environmental change. In this study, we evaluated whether small-scale heterogeneity in snowmelt timing restricts gene flow between microhabitats in the common long-lived dwarf shrub Salix herbacea L. We surveyed 273 genets across 12 early- and late-snowmelt sites (that is, ridges and snowbeds) in the Swiss Alps for phenological variation over 2 years and for genetic variation using seven SSR markers. Phenological differentiation triggered by differences in snowmelt timing did not correlate with genetic differentiation between microhabitats. On the contrary, extensive gene flow appeared to occur between microhabitats and slightly less extensively among adjacent mountains. However, ridges exhibited significantly lower levels of genetic diversity than snowbeds, and patterns of effective population size (Ne) and migration (Nem) between microhabitats were strongly asymmetric, with ridges acting as sources and snowbeds as sinks. As no recent genetic bottlenecks were detected in the studied sites, this asymmetry is likely to reflect current meta-population dynamics of the species dominated by gene flow via seeds rather than ancient re-colonization after the last glacial period. Overall, our results suggest that seed dispersal prevents snowmelt-driven genetic isolation, and snowbeds act as sinks of genetic diversity. We discuss the consequences of such small-scale variation in gene flow and diversity levels for population responses to climate change.