Data from: Life history and chemical defense interact to drive patterns of local adaptation in an annual monkeyflower

Although chemical defenses and herbivore pressure are widely established
as key targets and agents of selection, their roles in local adaptation
and determining potential evolutionary responses to changing climates are
often neglected. Here, we explore fitness differences between 11 rangewide
M. guttatus populations in a field common garden experiment and assess the
agents and targets of selection driving relative fitness patterns. We use
piecewise structural equation models to disentangle associations between
chemical defenses, (phenylpropanoid glycosides; PPGs), and life history
traits with herbivory and fitness. While the historical environment of
populations is not predictive of fitness differences between populations,
>90% of variation in fitness can be predicted by the flowering time
and foliar PPG defense arsenal of a population. Piecewise structural
equation models indicate that life history traits, particularly earlier
flowering time, are strongly and directly linked to fitness. However,
herbivory, particularly fruit predation, is also an important agent of
selection that creates indirect links between fitness and both chemical
defenses and life history traits. Our results emphasize the multivariate
nature of the agents and targets of selections in producing adaptation and
suggest that future responses to selection must navigate a complex fitness
landscape.