Plant responses to light competition: Does evolutionary history matter?

Plants can respond to light-competition cues with sets of plastic responses that provide either shade avoidance or tolerance, and were suggested to match these strategies to the competition scenarios they experience. However, little is known about the effect of plants' evolutionary history on their ability to shift between these strategies. To fill this knowledge gap, we performed a common-garden experiment that examined shade avoidance and tolerance responses of the winter annual plant Hymenocarpos circinnatus to a variety of simulated light-competition scenarios, including different heights and densities of surrounding vegetation. These responses were compared across plants originating from six populations along a climatic gradient; from a semi-arid region, where light competition is relatively weak and homogenous, to a mesic-Mediterranean region, where light competition is stronger and more heterogenous. In most of the studied traits, including those related to shade avoidance, such ..., , # Plant responses to light competition: Does evolutionary history matter?

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.280gb5n1t](10.5061/dryad.280gb5n1t)

## Description of the data and file structure

We performed a common-garden experiment where we measured varying shade avoidance and tolerance responses of the winter annual plant *Hymenocarpos circinnatus*, under five light-competition treatments that simulated different heights and densities of a surrounding vegetation. These responses were compared across plants originating from six populations along a climatic gradient, from a semi-arid to a mesic-Mediterranean region.

### Files and variables

#### File: First et al. Data.xlsx

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* Plant ID: ID number of the pot and individual plant.
* Block: a random factor with the 10 experimental blocks, according to which the plants were arranged on the experimental benches, each containing the five treatment combinations and the six populations.
* Population: a random fact...,