THE EFFECT OF DISTANCE FROM THE PARENTAL SITE ON OFFSPRING PERFORMANCE AND INBREEDING DEPRESSION IN IMPATIENS CAPENSIS: A TEST OF THE LOCAL ADAPTATION HYPOTHESIS

If microgeographic variation in selection within a natural plant population has resulted in local adaptation, then offspring fitness should decline with distance from the parental site. If outcrossed progeny are less well‐adapted to the parental environment than inbred progeny, but perform better in environments different from that of the parent, then the fitness of inbred progeny relative to outcrossed progeny should decrease with dispersal distance from the parent. To test these predictions, we collected seedlings at 10‐m intervals from a 40 times 40‐m permanent grid in a natural population of Impatiens capensis, grew them in a greenhouse, and crossed them to produce outcrossed chasmogamous seeds. Seedlings from outcrossed chasmogamous and self‐fertilized cleistogamous seeds were planted back into the source population in the original site of their maternal parents and in arcs 3 and 12 m from the parental location and censused weekly for survival and reproduction. The fitness of inbred offspring declined significantly and the magnitude of observed inbreeding depression increased with distance from the parental site, supporting the local adaptation hypothesis.