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Adaptation to drought is coupled with slow growth, but independent from phenology in marginal silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) populations

ABSTRACT: Abstract Drought is one of the most important selection pressures for forest trees in the context of climate change. Yet, the different evolutionary mechanisms, and their environmental drivers, by which certain populations become more drought tolerant than others is still little understood. We studied adaptation to drought in 16 silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) populations from the French Mediterranean Alps by combining observations on seedlings from a greenhouse experiment (N = 8,199) and on adult tress in situ (N = 315). In the greenhouse, we followed half?sib families for four growing seasons for growth and phenology traits, and tested their water stress response in a "drought until death" experiment. Adult trees in the field were assessed for ?13C, a proxy for water use efficiency, and genotyped at 357 SNP loci. SNP data was used to generate a null expectation for seedling trait divergence between populations in order to detect the signature of selection, and 31 environmental variables were used to identify the selective environment. We found that seedlings originating from populations with low soil water capacity grew more slowly, attained a smaller stature, and resisted water stress for a longer period of time in the greenhouse. Additionally, adult trees of these populations exhibited a higher water use efficiency as evidenced by their ?13C. These results suggest a correlated evolution of the growth?drought tolerance trait complex. Population divergence in bud break phenology was adaptive only in the second growing season, and evolved independently from the growth?drought tolerance trait complex. Adaptive divergence in bud break phenology was principally driven by the inter? and intra?annual variation in temperature at the geographic origin of the population. Our results illustrate the different evolutionary strategies used by populations to cope with drought stress at the range limits across a highly heterogeneous landscape, and can be used to inform assisted migration programs.

SUBMITTER: Csillery K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7539328 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:In a conservation and sustainable management perspective, we identify the ecological, climatic, and demographic factors responsible for the genetic diversity patterns of the European silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) at its southwestern range margin (Pyrenees Mountains, France, Europe). We sampled 45 populations throughout the French Pyrenees and eight neighboring reference populations in the Massif Central, Alps, and Corsica. We genotyped 1,620 individuals at three chloroplast and ten nuclear microsatellite loci. We analyzed within- and among-population genetic diversity using phylogeographic reconstructions, tests of isolation-by-distance, Bayesian population structure inference, modeling of demographic scenarios, and regression analyses of genetic variables with current and past environmental variables. Genetic diversity decreased from east to west suggesting isolation-by-distance from the Alps to the Pyrenees and from the Eastern to the Western Pyrenees. We identified two Pyrenean lineages that diverged from a third Alpine-Corsica-Massif Central lineage 0.8 to 1.1 M years ago and subsequently formed a secondary contact zone in the Central Pyrenees. Population sizes underwent contrasted changes, with a contraction in the west and an expansion in the east. Glacial climate affected the genetic composition of the populations, with the western genetic cluster only observed in locations corresponding to the coldest past climate and highest elevations. The eastern cluster was observed over a larger range of temperatures and elevations. All demographic events shaping the current spatial structure of genetic diversity took place during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, long before the onset of the Holocene. The Western Pyrenees lineage may require additional conservation efforts, whereas the eastern lineage is well protected in in situ gene conservation units. Due to past climate oscillations and the likely emergence of independent refugia, east-west oriented mountain ranges may be important reservoir of genetic diversity in a context of past and ongoing climate change in Europe.

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Adaptation to drought is coupled with slow growth, but independent from phenology in marginal silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) populations

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