DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gxd2547sj
title: Data from: Early life history divergence mediates elevational adaptation in a perennial alpine plant

description: Spatially divergent natural selection drives adaptation to contrasting
 environments and the evolution of ecotypes. Understanding this process in
 perennial plants is challenging because natural selection acts on multiple
 life history traits linked by fitness trade-offs. In a multi-year
 reciprocal transplant experiment of high and low elevation populations of
 the alpine carnation Dianthus carthusianorum in the Central Alps,
 we tested how different stages of the life cycle contribute to adaptation.
 Moreover, we used matrix population models to infer the specific
 contributions of individual life stages to fitness, coupled with trade-off
 analyses. We found genotype x environment interactions consistent with
 elevational adaptation both in single fitness components linked to
 reproduction and survival, and in integrative fitness estimates.
 Adaptation at low elevation is driven by early reproduction, in contrast
 to an opposite strategy at high elevation. Adaptive life-history
 differences between populations originating from low and high elevations
 are mediated by environmental effects on plant growth and trade-offs
 between reproduction and survival. Our work reveals elevational
 ecotypes of the perennial alpine plant D. carthusianorum that
 express alternative life history strategies in response to climatic
 differences shaping resource allocation.
description: Dataset contains fitness data collected in a reciprocal
 transplant expiemrent of a pernenial carnation over a period of three
 years. Life stage specific survival, flowering and fecundity and rosette
 size is included.
description: # Early life history divergence mediates elevational adaptation in a
 perennial alpine plant
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gxd2547sj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gxd2547sj) The dataset contains fitness data of a perennial plant collected over a period of three years growing in a reciprocal transplant experiment. Three low and three high elevation populations of the perennial carnation *Dianthus carthusianourm* were sampled at low and high elevations. Seeds were sown in a greenhouse and the resulting seedlings were transplanted to two low and to two high elevation transplant sites following a randomized block design. The plants in the field sites were monitored for three years 2016-2018 and fitness and rosette size data continously collected. The dataset contains life stage specific survival, flowering incidence and fecundity and rosette size. ## Description of the data and file structure Variable name - Description * site - transplant site * plot - experimental block within transplant site * position - position within block * site_altitude - elevation of transplant site * altitude - elevation of population origin in meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.) * population - population * mother - maternal family * seed - individual identifier number within maternal families * survival1_w1 - survival the first winter, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival2_s1 - survival the first summer, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival3_w2 - survival the second winter, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival4_s2 - survival the second summer, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival5_w3 - survival the third winter, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival6_s3 - survival the third summer, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * survival_7_w4 - survival the fourth winter, 1 and 0 denote alive and dead, respectively * E15_biomass - size in mm2, before first winter * S16_biomass - size in mm2 start of second summer * E16_biomass - size in mm2 end of second winter * S17_biomass - size in mm2 start of second summer * S18_biomass - size in mm2 start of third summer * E18_biomass - size in mm2 end of second winter * flower1 - flowering first summer, 1 and 0 denote flowering and non flowering, respectively * flower2 - flowering second summer, 1 and 0 denote flowering and non flowering, respectively * flower3 - flowering third summer, 1 and 0 denote flowering and non flowering, respectively * seed1 - number of seeds first summer * seed2 - number of seeds second summer * seed3 - number of seeds third summer NA values indicate cases where data could not be collected. These are cases where, for example, a plant was dead and biomass could not be measured.