Data from: Variation in ecophysiological traits might contribute to ecogeographic isolation and divergence between parapatric ecotypes of Mimulus aurantiacus

Many forms of reproductive isolation contribute to speciation, and early acting barriers may be especially important, because they have the first opportunity to limit gene flow. Ecogeographic isolation occurs when intrinsic traits of taxa contribute to disjunct geographic distributions, reducing the frequency of inter‐taxon mating. Characterizing this form of isolation requires knowledge of both the geographic arrangement of suitable habitats in nature and the identification of phenotypes involved in shaping geographic distributions. In Mimulus aurantiacus, red‐ and yellow‐flowered ecotypes are incompletely isolated by divergent selection exerted by different pollinators. However, these emerging taxa are largely isolated spatially, with a hybrid zone occurring along a narrow region of contact. In order to assess whether responses to abiotic conditions contribute to the parapatric distribution of ecotypes, we measured a series of ecophysiological traits from populations along a transect, including drought sensitivity, leaf area, and the concentrations of vegetative flavonoids. In contrast to the abrupt transitions in floral phenotypes, we found that ecophysiological traits exhibited a continuous geographic transition that largely mirrors variation in climatological variables. These traits may impede gene flow across a continuous environmental gradient, but they would be unlikely to result in ecotypic divergence alone. Nevertheless, we found a genetic correlation between vegetative and floral traits, providing a potential link between the two forms of isolation. Although neither barrier appears sufficient to cause divergence on its own, the combined impacts of local adaptation to abiotic conditions and regional adaptation to pollinators may interact to drive discontinuous variation in the face of gene flow in this system.drought_scores_rawThese are raw drought scores from the terminal drought experiment described in M&M section 2.3.droughtdata_mainThis file contains the drought sensitivity metric calculated from raw drought scores as described in M&M section 2.3 (both untransformed and transformed). It also contains leaf area measurements for each individual (untransformed and transformed).leaf_traits_mainThis file contains leaf ecophysiology traits, vegetative anthocyanin and resin in both stressed and unstressed treatments. Untransformed data are included for all variables, and transformed for those required. See M&M section 2.4.ecophys_traits_by_familyThis file contains summarized drought, leaf area, vegetative anthocyanin and resin data, with individual replicates averaged by family. See M&M section 2.5.pairwise_fstThis data file contains a square matrix of Fst values between each population in the ecophys experiments. See M&M section 2.5. These data were originally estimated and presented in Stankowski et al 2015 (Evolution 69:3054-3068).population_climateThis data file contains population level information about climatological variables collected from WORLDCLIM. See M&M section 2.5.biomassThis data file contains above and below-ground biomass data. See M&M section 2.6.myb2_antho_cosegregationThis data file contains myb2 genotypes, and visible stem and leaf anthocyanins for a population of f2's from a cross between red and yellow parents.Funding provided by: National Science FoundationCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001Award Number: DEB-125819