Local adaptation to climate has facilitated the global invasion of cheatgrass

Local adaptation may facilitate range expansion during invasions, but the mechanisms underlying successful invasions remain unclear. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), native to Eurasia and Africa, has invaded globally, with severe impacts in western North America. We aim to identify mechanisms and consequences of local adaptation in the North American cheatgrass invasion. We sequence 307 range-wide genotypes and conduct controlled experiments. We find that diverse lineages invaded North America, where long-distance gene flow is common. Nearly half of North American cheatgrass comprises a mosaic of ~19 locally adapted, near-clonal genotypes, each seemingly very successful in a different part of North America. Additionally, ancestry, phenotype, and allele frequency-environment clines in the native range predict those in the invaded range, indicating pre-adapted genotypes colonized different regions. Common gardens show directional selection on flowering time that reverse between warm and cold sites, potentially maintaining clines. In the USA Great Basin, genomic predictions of strong local adaptation identify sites where cheatgrass is most dominant. Our results indicate that multiple introductions and migration within the invaded range fuel local adaptation and success of cheatgrass in western North America. Understanding how environment and gene flow shape adaptation and invasion is critical for managing ongoing invasions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-11-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64799-9
Primary Topic
Genetic diversity and population structure
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Local adaptation to climate has facilitated the global invasion of cheatgrass

Megan L. Vahsen, Matthew J. Germino, Lauren M. Porensky, Ruth A. Hufbauer et al.
Nature Communications
Genetic diversity and population structure
article

Local adaptation to climate has facilitated the global invasion of cheatgrass

Megan L. Vahsen, Matthew J. Germino, Lauren M. Porensky, Ruth A. Hufbauer, Alexandra K. Urza, Stella M. Copeland, Diana Gamba, Peter W. Dunwiddie, Ryan C. Donnelly, Jesse M. Kalwij, Christopher L. Merkord, Lysandra A. Pyle, Leonid Rasran, Brian G. Rector, Daniel E. Martin, Toby M. Maxwell, Marcin Klisz, John W. Morgan, Peter B. Adler, Acer VanWallendael, Elizabeth A. Leger, Martin C. Holdrege, Owen W. Baughman, Kathryn G. Turner, Christoph Rosche, Aayudh Das, Jacqueline P. Ott, Alvin R. Diamond, Е.С. Каширина, Shanta Budha‐Magar, Brian M. Starzomski, Radosław Puchałka, David J. Ensing, Justin J. Van Ee, Jesse R. Lasky, Robert K. Shriver, Seth Romero, Sigitas Juzėnas, Rachel L. Stone, Dana M. Blumenthal, Mevin B. Hooten, Dávid U. Nagy, Cynthia S. Brown, Thomas A. Everest, Sangtae Kim, Rotem Ben-Zeev, C. Sean Blaney, Randy Bodkins, Shannon L. Davis-Foust, Alina Klyueva, Michel Langeveld, Samuel Lutfy, Nikki Pirtel, Alexandr Stanislavschi, Carl-Adam Wegenschimmel, Justin Zweck, Amanda Penn, Holly Hoitink, Marina Sadykova
article en

Abstract

Local adaptation may facilitate range expansion during invasions, but the mechanisms underlying successful invasions remain unclear. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), native to Eurasia and Africa, has invaded globally, with severe impacts in western North America. We aim to identify mechanisms and consequences of local adaptation in the North American cheatgrass invasion. We sequence 307 range-wide genotypes and conduct controlled experiments. We find that diverse lineages invaded North America, where long-distance gene flow is common. Nearly half of North American cheatgrass comprises a mosaic of ~19 locally adapted, near-clonal genotypes, each seemingly very successful in a different part of North America. Additionally, ancestry, phenotype, and allele frequency-environment clines in the native range predict those in the invaded range, indicating pre-adapted genotypes colonized different regions. Common gardens show directional selection on flowering time that reverse between warm and cold sites, potentially maintaining clines. In the USA Great Basin, genomic predictions of strong local adaptation identify sites where cheatgrass is most dominant. Our results indicate that multiple introductions and migration within the invaded range fuel local adaptation and success of cheatgrass in western North America. Understanding how environment and gene flow shape adaptation and invasion is critical for managing ongoing invasions.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
New Mexico State University (US), Bryansk State University (RU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), Idaho State University (US), Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), Boise State University (US), Utah State University (US), The Nature Conservancy (US), United States Geological Survey (US), University of Vienna (AT), Pennsylvania State University (US), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA), United States Department of Agriculture (US), University of Nevada, Reno (US), North Carolina State University (US), Troy University (US), Sungshin Women's University (KR), Minnesota State University Moorhead (US), Vilnius University (LT), Texas A&M University – Kingsville (US), Kansas State University (US), La Trobe University (AU), University of Washington (US), Northern Arizona University (US), Eastern Oregon University (US), University of Victoria (CA), University of Johannesburg (ZA), Nicolaus Copernicus University (PL), Northland District Health Board (NZ), Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (CA), Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași (RO), RED Consulting (Norway) (NO), Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (US), Rocky Mountain Research Station (US), Agricultural Research Service - Plains Area (US), Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (PL), Rocky Mountain Research (United States) (US), Marine Hydrophysical Institute (RU), Institute of Botany (AM), Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Case Western Reserve University (US), University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (US), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Colorado State University (US), BOKU University (AT)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Johns Hopkins University, Joint Genome Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Geological Survey
Openalex Percentile: Top 63%
Genetic diversity and population structure
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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