Germination phenology and dispersion rate coevoluton

During my second year Master’s internship, I worked on the competition-colonisation trade-off. My model species was Crepis sancta, an annual plant which produces two types of seeds, only differing by their germination phenology. Using an adaptative dynamics approach, I investigated the possibility of the evolution of a trade-off between competition and colonization through the co-evolution of germination phenology and seed dispersal, without any differential resource allocation.

My work did show that germination phenology and dispersion influence each other. However, we were not able to reveal the emergence of a competition/colonization trade-off mediated by germination phenology. Nonetheless, our model revealed the possibility of evolving diversity (polymorphism) of germination phenologies, suggesting that diversity on this trait could evolve easily in communities.