Understanding growth-survivorship tradeoffs in restoration

Mortality among recruits of desert perennials is extremely high until a relatively ‘safe’ size is reached. Restoration aims to bypass the most vulnerable stage by outplanting greenhouse-reared saplings. If seedling development is subject to a growth-survivorship tradeoff, this practice may create a selection bias for faster-growing genotypes in multiple common-garden experiments. While not necessarily detrimental for restoration success, this selection should have consequences for long-term population dynamics.