Organismal survival can depend on response to environmental variation. Several modes of response to environmental variation have been documented, including adaptive tracking, adaptive phenotypic plasticity and the evolution of so-called “bet hedging” traits. I present empirical evidence that short-lived organisms, including the monocarpic herb, Lobelia inflata (Campanulaceae), adapt to environmental variation. Genetic population differentiation among traits of five eastern North American populations of L.
