PREMISE: Whole genome duplication is a major evolutionary event, but its role in ecological divergence remains equivocal. When populations of different ploidy (cytotypes) overlap in space, "contact zones" are formed, allowing the study of evolutionary mechanisms contributing toward ploidy divergence. Multiple contact zones per species' range are often described but rarely leveraged as natural replicates. We explored whether the strength of niche differentiation of diploid and autotetraploid Arabidopsis arenosa varies over distinct contact zones and if the frequency of triploids decreases from seedling to adult stage. METHODS: We characterized ploidy composition and habitat preferences in 264 populations across three contact zones using climatic niche modeling. Ecological differences of cytotypes were also assessed using local vegetation surveys at 110 populations within two contact zones, and at the finer scale within five mixed-ploidy sites. This was complemented by flow cytometry of seedlings. RESULTS: We found no niche differences between diploid and tetraploid populations within contact zones for either climatic or local environmental variables. Comparisons of cytotypes within mixed-ploidy sites found weak niche differences that were inconsistent in direction. Triploid individuals were virtually absent (0.14%) in the field, and they were at a similarly low frequency (0.2%) in ex situ germinated seedlings. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the strength in investigating different spatial scales across several contact zones when addressing ecological niche differentiation between ploidies. The lack of consistent habitat differentiation of ploidies across the scales and locations supports the recently emerging picture that processes other than ecological differentiation may underlie ploidy coexistence in diploid-autopolyploid systems.

Department of Botany Faculty of Science Charles University Benátská 2 CZ 128 01 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 31 CZ 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Institute of Botany Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre Slovak Academy of Sciences Dúbravská cesta 9 SK 845 23 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Zámek 1 CZ 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

Institute of Botany University of Innsbruck Sternwartestrasse 15 AT 6020 Innsbruck Austria

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