Wherever genetic drift predominates as an evolutionary force, it increases mutational load. This occurs in populations that that are small (such as are found in rear-edge positions of a species distribution) or in serially bottlenecked populations (such as found in recently-expanded areas of distributions). We study how genomic estimates of mutational load impact demographic rates under near-natural conditions and the environment dependence of the expression of mutational load. This work is done in populations of Arabidopsis lyrata varying in long-term population size, mating system, and in different parts of the species range. Currently, we are performing a large transplant experiment in the US.

Project of: Kay Lucek, Antoine Perrier

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