Data from: Modeling the influence of genetic and environmental variation on the expression of plant life cycles across landscapes

Organisms develop through multiple life stages that differ in
environmental tolerances. The seasonal timing, or phenology, of life-stage
transitions determines the environmental conditions to which each life
stage is exposed and the length of time required to complete a generation.
Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to phenological
variation, yet predicting their combined effect on life cycles across a
geographic range remains a challenge. We linked submodels of the
plasticity of individual life stages to create an integrated model that
predicts life-cycle phenology in complex environments. We parameterized
the model for Arabidopsis thaliana and simulated life cycles in four
locations. We compared multiple “genotypes” by varying two parameters
associated with natural genetic variation in phenology: seed dormancy and
floral repression. The model predicted variation in life cycles across
locations that qualitatively matches observed natural phenology. Seed
dormancy had larger effects on life-cycle length than floral repression,
and results suggest that a genetic cline in dormancy maintains a
life-cycle length of 1 year across the geographic range of this species.
By integrating across life stages, this approach demonstrates how genetic
variation in one transition can influence subsequent transitions and the
geographic distribution of life cycles more generally.