Local adaptation to precipitation in the perennial grass Elymus elymoides : Trade‐offs between growth and drought resistance traits
| Autor: | Dana M. Blumenthal, Lauren M. Porensky, Troy W. Ocheltree, Daniel R. LeCain, Elizabeth A. Leger, Adrienne M. Pilmanis, Rowan Gaffney |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine Perennial plant drought resistance lcsh:Evolution 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Elymus elymoides (bottlebrush squirreltail) 03 medical and health sciences lcsh:QH359-425 Genetics Water-use efficiency semiarid steppe clinal variation Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Local adaptation Biomass (ecology) leaf osmotic potential biology Ecotype food and beverages Elymus Original Articles biology.organism_classification Arid ecosystem restoration 030104 developmental biology Agronomy leaf size Original Article Rangeland General Agricultural and Biological Sciences local adaptation |
| Zdroj: | Evolutionary Applications, Vol 14, Iss 2, Pp 524-535 (2021) Evolutionary Applications |
| ISSN: | 1752-4571 |
| Popis: | Understanding local adaptation to climate is critical for managing ecosystems in the face of climate change. While there have been many provenance studies in trees, less is known about local adaptation in herbaceous species, including the perennial grasses that dominate arid and semiarid rangeland ecosystems. We used a common garden study to quantify variation in growth and drought resistance traits in 99 populations of Elymus elymoides from a broad geographic and climatic range in the western United States. Ecotypes from drier sites produced less biomass and smaller seeds, and had traits associated with greater drought resistance: small leaves with low osmotic potential and high integrated water use efficiency (δ13C). Seasonality also influenced plant traits. Plants from regions with relatively warm, wet summers had large seeds, large leaves, and low δ13C. Irrespective of climate, we also observed trade‐offs between biomass production and drought resistance traits. Together, these results suggest that much of the phenotypic variation among E. elymoides ecotypes represents local adaptation to differences in the amount and timing of water availability. In addition, ecotypes that grow rapidly may be less able to persist under dry conditions. Land managers may be able to use this variation to improve restoration success by seeding ecotypes with multiple drought resistance traits in areas with lower precipitation. The future success of this common rangeland species will likely depend on the use of tools such as seed transfer zones to match local variation in growth and drought resistance to predicted climatic conditions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Plný text