Data from: Adaptation to elevated CO2 in different biodiversity contexts

In the absence of migration, species persistence depends on adaption to a
changing environment, but whether and how adaptation to global change is
altered by community diversity is not understood. Community diversity may
prevent, enhance or alter how species adapt to changing conditions by
influencing population sizes, genetic diversity and/or the fitness
landscape experienced by focal species. We tested the impact of community
diversity on adaptation by performing a reciprocal transplant experiment
on grasses that evolved for 14 years under ambient and elevated CO2, in
communities of low or high species-richness. Using biomass as a fitness
proxy, we find evidence for local adaptation to elevated CO2, but only for
plants assayed in a community of similar diversity to the one experienced
during the period of selection. Our results indicate that the biological
community shapes the very nature of the fitness landscape within which
species evolve in response to elevated CO2.