Vegetative dormancy, that is the temporary absence of aboveground growth for ≥ 1 year, is paradoxical, because plants cannot photosynthesise or flower during dormant periods. We test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses for its widespread persistence. We show that dormancy has evolved numerous times. Most species displaying dormancy exhibit life‐history costs of sprouting, and of dormancy. Short‐lived and mycoheterotrophic species have higher proportions of dormant plants than long‐lived species and species with other nutritional modes. Foliage...

Introgressive hybridization is a widespread evolutionary phenomenon which may lead to increased allelic variation at selective-neutral loci and to transfer of fitness-related traits to introgressed lineages. We inferred the population genetic structure of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Poland from mitochondrial (CR and cyt b) and sex-linked markers (ZFX, SRY, DBY4 and DBY8). Analyses of CR mtDNA sequences from 452 individuals indicated widespread introgression of Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus) mtDNA in the...

Introgressive hybridization offers a unique platform for studying the molecular basis of natural selection acting on mitogenomes. Most of the mtDNA protein-coding genes are extremely conserved; however, some of the observed variations have potentially adaptive significance. Here, we evaluated whether the evolution of mtDNA in closely related roe deer species affected by widespread mtDNA introgression is neutral or adaptive. We characterized and compared 16 complete mitogenomes of European (Capreolus capreolus) and Siberian (C. pygargus) roe...

Climate change is projected to influence the genetic resources of plant species. Recent research has examined genetic diversity patterns under current climate conditions, with little attention to the future genetic consequences for species. In this study, we combined ecological niche modeling and population genetic approaches to project future changes in genetic diversity using plastid and nuclear DNA and reconstructed distribution patterns of three circumboreal plants (Chamaedaphne calyculata, Linnaea borealis ssp. borealis, and Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum ssp....