Phenotypic evolution of the wild progenitor of cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) Thell.) across bioclimatic regions in Jordan

Climate change affects the evolutionary potential and the survival of wild plant populations by acting on fitness traits. Resurrection approach was applied to investigate the phenotypic changes during the evolution of the wild progenitor of cultivated barley, Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. s pontaneum (K. Koch.) Thell. in Jordan. We compared 40 Hordeum spontaneum populations collected in Jordan in 1991 with 40 Hordeum spontaneum populations collected from the same sites in 2014. In the comparison we included seven Hordeum vulgare checks (one local landrace and six improved varieties). The correlation analysis between the phenotypic and eco-geographical data based on Principal Component Analysis and Mantel test showed that the populations were aggregated according to their ecological geographical pattern in two groups with a significant ( p