C₄ photosynthesis provided an immediate demographic advantage to populations of the grass Alloteropsis semialata

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Summary C 4 photosynthesis is a key innovation in land plant evolution, but its immediate effects on population demography are unclear. We explore the early impact of the C 4 trait on the trajectories of C 4 and non‐C 4 populations of the grass Alloteropsis semialata . We combine niche models projected into paleoclimate layers for the last 5 million years with demographic models based on genomic data. The initial split between C 4 and non‐C 4 populations was followed by a larger expansion of the ancestral C 4 population, and further diversification led to the unparalleled expansion of descendant C 4 populations. Overall, C 4 populations spread over three continents and achieved the highest population growth, in agreement with a broader climatic niche that rendered a large potential range over time. The C 4 populations that remained in the region of origin, however, experienced lower population growth, rather consistent with local geographic constraints. Moreover, the posterior transfer of some C 4 ‐related characters to non‐C 4 counterparts might have facilitated the recent expansion of non‐C 4 populations in the region of origin. Altogether, our findings support that C 4 photosynthesis provided an immediate demographic advantage to A. semialata populations, but its effect might be masked by geographic contingencies.