Phenotypic plasticity of growth ring traits in Pinus hartwegii at the ends of its elevational gradient
Introduction Phenotypic plasticity (PP) could be an important short-term mechanism to modify physiological and morphological traits in response to climate change and global warming, particularly for high-mountain tree species. The objective was to evaluate PP response of growth ring traits to temper...
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Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 14; p. 1072638 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Frontiers
20.09.2023
Frontiers Media S.A |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Introduction
Phenotypic plasticity (PP) could be an important short-term mechanism to modify physiological and morphological traits in response to climate change and global warming, particularly for high-mountain tree species. The objective was to evaluate PP response of growth ring traits to temperature and precipitation in
Pinus hartwegii
Lindl. populations located at the ends of its elevational gradient on two volcanic mountains in central Mexico (La Malinche and Nevado de Toluca).
Methods
Increment cores collected from 274 P
. hartwegii
trees were used to estimate their PP through reaction norms (RN), which relate the ring width and density traits with climate variables (temperature and precipitation). We estimated the trees’ sensitivity (significant RN) to climatic variables, as well as the relative proportion of RN with positive and negative slope. We also estimated the relationship between the PP of ring width and density traits using correlation and Principal Component (PC) analyses.
Results
Over 70% of all trees showed significant RN to growing season and winter temperatures for at least one growth ring trait, with a similar proportion of significant RN at both ends of the gradient on both mountains. Ring width traits had mostly negative RN, while ring density traits tended to have positive RN. Frequency of negative RN decreased from lower to higher elevation for most traits. Average PP was higher at the lower end of the gradient, especially on LM, both for ring width and ring density traits, although high intrapopulation variation in PP was found on both mountains.
Discussion
Results indicate that
P. hartwegii
presents spatially differentiated plastic responses in width and density components of radial growth. PP was particularly strong at the lower elevation, which has higher temperature and water stress conditions, putting these populations at risk from the continuing global warming driven by climate change. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Edited by: Fenghui Yuan, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, United States Reviewed by: Melanie Zacharias, University of Greifswald, Germany; Peter Groenendijk, State University of Campinas, Brazil |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2023.1072638 |