Variation in leaf traits at different altitudes reflects the adaptive strategy of plants to environmental changes.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Liu W
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7417217 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Variation in leaf traits at different altitudes reflects the adaptive strategy of plants to environmental changes.
Liu Wensheng W Zheng Li L Qi Danhui D
Ecology and evolution 20200715 15
Leaf anatomical traits play key roles in plant functions and display evolutionary adaptive changes to suit the surrounding environment. To reveal the adaptive mode and mechanisms of plants in response to global warming, we analyzed leaf morphology and anatomical structures in three different species, <i>Epilobium amurense</i> Hausskn., <i>Pedicularis densispica</i> Franch., and <i>Potentilla fulgens</i> Wall. ex Hook., growing along an elevational gradient (3,000-4,600 m) in the Yulong Mountains ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Plants adapt to high altitudes by adjusting the characteristics of their above and underground organs. Identifying the species-specific plant traits changed in response to altitude is essential for understanding ecophysiological processes at the ecosystem level. Multiple studies analyzed the effects of altitude on above and underground organ traits in different species. Yet, little is known about those responses in the alpine Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim. (Liliaceae). F. przewalskii is a perennial medicinal plant with meager annual growth and vanishing wild populations. We analyzed leaf and bulb functional traits, and their allometric relationships in F. przewalskii plants grown at three altitudes: 3000, 2700, and 2400 m. Leaf thickness, leaf biomass, leaf biomass allocation, and the aboveground:underground ratio increased significantly with increasing altitude. Conversely, bulb allocation decreased at higher altitudes. The altitude influenced the allometric growth trajectories of specific leaf and bulb traits: higher altitudes led to thicker and broader leaves and changed the shape of the bulbs from more circular, which is ideal (at 2700 m), to more elongated (at 3000 m). Those variations had remarkable ecological significance. Hence, bulb biomass is the largest at 2700 m of altitude for which their vertical and longitudinal ratio is unaffected. which is economically favorable. Our findings show that F. przewalskii has a notable potential of growth and morphological plasticity along the altitude gradient and that 2700 m might be ideal for developing its artificial cultivation.
| S-EPMC7535033 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and aimsTrait-environment relationships are commonly interpreted as evidence for local adaptation in plants. However, even when selection analyses support this interpretation, the mechanisms underlying differential benefits are often unknown. This study addresses this gap in knowledge using the broadly distributed South African shrub Protea repens. Specifically, the study examines whether broad-scale patterns of trait variation are consistent with spatial differences in selection and ecophysiology in the wild.MethodsIn a common garden study of plants sourced from 19 populations, associations were measured between five morphological traits and three axes describing source climates. Trait-trait and trait-environment associations were analysed in a multi-response model. Within two focal populations in the wild, selection and path analyses were used to test associations between traits, fecundity and physiological performance.Key resultsAcross 19 populations in a common garden, stomatal density increased with the source population's mean annual temperature and decreased with its average amount of rainfall in midsummer. Concordantly, selection analysis in two natural populations revealed positive selection on stomatal density at the hotter, drier site, while failing to detect selection at the cooler, moister site. Dry-site plants with high stomatal density also had higher stomatal conductances, cooler leaf temperatures and higher light-saturated photosynthetic rates than those with low stomatal density, but no such relationships were present among wet-site plants. Leaf area, stomatal pore index and specific leaf area in the garden also co-varied with climate, but within-population differences were not associated with fitness in either wild population.ConclusionsThe parallel patterns of broad-scale variation, differences in selection and differences in trait-ecophysiology relationships suggest a mechanism for adaptive differentiation in stomatal density. Densely packed stomata may improve performance by increasing transpiration and cooling, but predominately in drier, hotter climates. This study uniquely shows context-dependent benefits of stomatal density--a trait rarely linked to local adaptation in plants.
| S-EPMC4701147 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Epidemics are engines for host-parasite coevolution, where parasite adaptation to hosts drives reciprocal adaptation in host populations. A key challenge is to understand whether parasite adaptation and any underlying evolution and coevolution is repeatable across ecologically realistic populations that experience different environmental conditions, or if each population follows a completely unique evolutionary path. We established twenty replicate pond populations comprising an identical suite of genotypes of crustacean host, Daphnia magna, and inoculum of their parasite, Pasteuria ramosa. Using a time-shift experiment, we compared parasite infection traits before and after epidemics and linked patterns of parasite evolution with shifts in host genotype frequencies. Parasite adaptation to the sympatric suite of host genotypes came at a cost of poorer performance on foreign genotypes across populations and environments. However, this consistent pattern of parasite adaptation was driven by different types of frequency-dependent selection that was contingent on an ecologically relevant environmental treatment (whether or not there was physical mixing of water within ponds). In unmixed ponds, large epidemics drove rapid and strong host-parasite coevolution. In mixed ponds, epidemics were smaller and host evolution was driven mainly by the mixing treatment itself; here, host evolution and parasite evolution were clear, but coevolution was absent. Population mixing breaks an otherwise robust coevolutionary cycle. These findings advance our understanding of the repeatability of (co)evolution across noisy, ecologically realistic populations.
| S-EPMC6121849 | biostudies-other
Project description:The extent of endoreduplication in leaf growth is group- or even species-specific, and its adaptive role is still unclear. A survey of Arabidopsis accessions for variation at the level of endopolyploidy, cell number, and cell size in leaves revealed extensive genetic variation in endopolyploidy level. High endopolyploidy is associated with increased leaf size, both in natural and in genetically unstructured (mapping) populations. The underlying genes were identified as quantitative trait loci that control endopolyploidy in nature by modulating the progression of successive endocycles during organ development. This complex genetic architecture indicates an adaptive mechanism that allows differential organ growth over a broad geographic range and under stressful environmental conditions. UV-B radiation was identified as a significant positive climatic predictor for high endopolyploidy. Arabidopsis accessions carrying the increasing alleles for endopolyploidy also have enhanced tolerance to UV-B radiation. UV-absorbing secondary metabolites provide an additional protective strategy in accessions that display low endopolyploidy. Taken together, these results demonstrate that high constitutive endopolyploidy is a significant predictor for organ size in natural populations and is likely to contribute to sustaining plant growth under high incident UV radiation. Endopolyploidy may therefore form part of the range of UV-B tolerance mechanisms that exist in natural populations.
| S-EPMC4047990 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Convergence is commonly caused by environmental filtering, severe climatic conditions and local disturbance. The basic aim of the present study was to understand the pattern of leaf traits across diverse desert plant species in a common garden, in addition to determining the effect of plant life forms (PLF), such as herb, shrub and subshrub, phylogeny and soil properties on leaf traits. Six leaf traits, namely carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), ?13C and leaf water potential (LWP) of 37 dominant desert plant species were investigated and analyzed. The C, N, K and ?13C concentrations in leaves of shrubs were found higher than herbs and subshrubs; however, P and LWP levels were higher in the leaves of subshrubs following herbs and shrubs. Moreover, leaf C showed a significant positive correlation with N and a negative correlation with ?13C. Leaf N exhibited a positive correlation with P. The relationship between soil and plant macro-elements was found generally insignificant but soil C and N exhibited a significant positive correlation with leaf P. Taxonomy showed a stronger effect on leaf C, N, P and ?13C than soil properties, explaining >50% of the total variability. C3 plants showed higher leaf C, N, P, K and LWP concentration than C4 plants, whereas C4 plants had higher ?13C than C3 plants. Legumes exhibited higher leaf C, N, K and LWP than nonlegumes, while nonlegumes had higher P and ?13C concentration than legumes. In all the species, significant phylogenetic signals (PS) were detected for C and N and nonsignificant PS for the rest of the leaf traits. In addition, these phylogenetic signals were found lower (K-value < 1), and the maximum K-value was noted for C (K = 0.35). The plants of common garden evolved and adapted themselves for their survival in the arid environment and showed convergent variations in their leaf traits. However, these variations were not phylogenetics-specific. Furthermore, marks of convergence found in leaf traits of the study area were most likely due to the environmental factors.
| S-EPMC7463800 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Within-canopy variation in leaf structural and photosynthetic characteristics is a major means by which whole canopy photosynthesis is maximized at given total canopy nitrogen. As key acclimatory modifications, leaf nitrogen content (N A) and photosynthetic capacity (A A) per unit area increase with increasing light availability in the canopy and these increases are associated with increases in leaf dry mass per unit area (M A) and/or nitrogen content per dry mass and/or allocation. However, leaf functional characteristics change with increasing leaf age during leaf development and aging, but the importance of these alterations for within-canopy trait gradients is unknown. I conducted a meta-analysis based on 71 canopies that were sampled at different time periods or, in evergreens, included measurements for different-aged leaves to understand how within-canopy variations in leaf traits (trait plasticity) depend on leaf age. The analysis demonstrated that in evergreen woody species, M A and N A plasticity decreased with increasing leaf age, but the change in A A plasticity was less suggesting a certain re-acclimation of A A to altered light. In deciduous woody species, M A and N A gradients in flush-type species increased during leaf development and were almost invariable through the rest of the season, while in continuously leaf-forming species, the trait gradients increased constantly with increasing leaf age. In forbs, N A plasticity increased, while in grasses, N A plasticity decreased with increasing leaf age, reflecting life form differences in age-dependent changes in light availability and in nitrogen resorption for growth of generative organs. Although more work is needed to improve the coverage of age-dependent plasticity changes in some plant life forms, I argue that the age-dependent variation in trait plasticity uncovered in this study is large enough to warrant incorporation in simulations of canopy photosynthesis through the growing period.
| S-EPMC5818143 | biostudies-other
Project description:Dissimilation of carbon sources during plant respiration in support of metabolic processes results in the continuous release of CO2. The carbon isotopic composition of leaf dark-respired CO2 (i.e. δ (13) C R ) shows daily enrichments up to 14.8‰ under different environmental conditions. However, the reasons for this (13)C enrichment in leaf dark-respired CO2 are not fully understood, since daily changes in δ(13)C of putative leaf respiratory carbon sources (δ (13) C RS ) are not yet clear. Thus, we exposed potato plants (Solanum tuberosum) to different temperature and soil moisture treatments. We determined δ (13) C R with an in-tube incubation technique and δ (13) C RS with compound-specific isotope analysis during a daily cycle. The highest δ (13) C RS values were found in the organic acid malate under different environmental conditions, showing less negative values compared to δ (13) C R (up to 5.2‰) and compared to δ (13) C RS of soluble carbohydrates, citrate and starch (up to 8.8‰). Moreover, linear relationships between δ (13) C R and δ (13) C RS among different putative carbon sources were strongest for malate during daytime (r(2)=0.69, P≤0.001) and nighttime (r(2)=0.36, P≤0.001) under all environmental conditions. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed δ (13) C RS of malate as the most important carbon source influencing δ (13) C R . Thus, our results strongly indicate malate as a key carbon source of (13)C enriched dark-respired CO2 in potato plants, probably driven by an anapleurotic flux replenishing intermediates of the Krebs cycle.
| S-EPMC4566975 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Species' 2C-values (mass of DNA in G(1) phase 2n nuclei) vary by at least four orders of magnitude among seed plants. The 2C-value has been shown to be co-ordinated with a number of other species traits, and with environmental variables. A prediction that species 2C-values are negatively related to leaf life span (LL) and leaf mass per area (LMA) is tested. These leaf traits are components of a major dimension of ecological variation among plant species. METHODS:Flow cytometry was used to measure the 2C-values for 41 Australian seed plant species, 40 of which were new to the literature. Where possible, LL and LMA data from the global literature were combined with 2C-values from our data set and online C-value databases. KEY RESULTS:Across all species, weak positive relationships were found between 2C-values and both LL and LMA; however, these did not reflect the relationships within either angiosperms or gymnosperms. Across 59 angiosperm species, there were weak negative relationships between 2C-values and both LL (r2 = 0.13, P = 0.005) and LMA (r2 = 0.15, P = 0.002). These relationships were the result of shifts to longer LL and greater LMA in woody compared with herbaceous growth forms, with no relationships present within growth forms. It was not possible to explain a positive relationship between 2C-values and LMA (r2 = 0.30, P = 0.024) across 17 gymnosperm species. The 2C-value was not related to LL or LMA either across species within orders (except for LMA among Pinales), or as radiation divergences in a model phylogeny. CONCLUSIONS:Gymnosperms appear to vary along a spectrum different from angiosperms. Among angiosperms, weak negative cross-species relationships were associated with growth form differences, and traced to a few divergences deep in the model phylogeny. These results suggest that among angiosperms, nuclear DNA content and leaf strategy are unrelated.
| S-EPMC4247083 | biostudies-other
Project description:The microbiome has a crucial influence on host phenotype and is of broad interest to ecological and evolutionary research. Yet, the extent of variation that occurs in the microbiome within and between populations is unclear. We characterized the skin and gut microbiomes of seven populations of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) inhabiting a diverse range of environments, including hatchery-reared and wild populations. We found shared skin operational taxonomic units (OTUs) across all populations and core gut microbiota for all wild fish, but the diversity and structure of both skin and gut microbial communities were distinct between populations. There was a marked difference between the gut microbiomes of wild and captive fish. Hatchery-reared fish had lower intestinal microbial diversity, lacked core microbiota found in wild fish, and showed altered community structure and function. Skin and gut microbiomes were also less varied within captive populations, reflecting more uniform artificial rearing conditions. The surrounding water influenced the microbiome of the gut and, especially, the skin, but could not explain the degree of variation observed between populations. For both gut and skin, we found that there was greater difference in microbiome structures between more genetically distinct fish populations, and that population genetic diversity was positively correlated with microbiome diversity. However, diet is likely to be the major factor contributing to the large differences in gut microbiota between wild and captive fish. Our results highlight the scope of interpopulation variation in the Atlantic salmon microbiome and offer insights into the deterministic factors contributing to microbiome diversity and structure.IMPORTANCE Variation in the microbiome has a fundamental influence on host health, ecology, and evolution, but the scope and basis of this variation are not fully understood. We identified considerable variation in skin and gut microbial communities between seven wild and captive populations of Atlantic salmon, reflecting divergent environmental conditions and fish genetic diversity. In particular, we found very pronounced differences in the intestinal microbiomes of wild and hatchery-reared fish, likely reflecting differences in diet. Our results offer an insight into how the microbiome potentially contributes to the generation of local adaptations in this species and how domestication alters intestinal microbial communities, highlighting future research directions in these areas.
| S-EPMC6070748 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Effects of parental environment on offspring traits have been well known for decades. Interest in this transgenerational form of phenotypic plasticity has recently surged due to advances in our understanding of its mechanistic basis. Theoretical research has simultaneously advanced by predicting the environmental conditions that should favor the adaptive evolution of transgenerational plasticity. Yet whether such conditions actually exist in nature remains largely unexplored. Here, using long-term climate data, we modeled optimal levels of transgenerational plasticity for an organism with a one-year life cycle at a spatial resolution of 4 km2 across the continental United States. Both annual temperature and precipitation levels were often autocorrelated, but the strength and direction of these autocorrelations varied considerably even among nearby sites. When present, such environmental autocorrelations render offspring environments statistically predictable based on the parental environment, a key condition for the adaptive evolution of transgenerational plasticity. Results of our optimality models were consistent with this prediction: High levels of transgenerational plasticity were favored at sites with strong environmental autocorrelations, and little-to-no transgenerational plasticity was favored at sites with weak or nonexistent autocorrelations. These results are among the first to show that natural patterns of environmental variation favor the evolution of adaptive transgenerational plasticity. Furthermore, these findings suggest that transgenerational plasticity is likely variable in nature, depending on site-specific patterns of environmental variation.
| S-EPMC7029079 | biostudies-literature