Common Garden (common + garden)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Terms modified by Common Garden

  • common garden experiment
  • common garden study

  • Selected Abstracts


    An explicit test for the contribution of environmental maternal effects to rapid clinal differentiation in an invasive plant

    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
    A. MONTY
    Abstract Population differentiation of alien invasive plants within their non-native range has received increasingly more attention. Common gardens are typically used to assess the levels of genotypic differentiation among populations. However, in such experiments, environmental maternal effects can influence phenotypic variation among individuals if seed sources are collected from field populations under variable environmental regimes. In the present study, we investigated the causes of an altitudinal cline in an invasive plant. Seeds were collected from Senecio inaequidens (Asteraceae) populations along an altitudinal gradient in southern France. In addition, seeds from the same populations were generated by intra-population crossings in a climatic chamber. The two seed lots were grown in a common garden in Central Belgium to identify any evidence of environmentally induced maternal effects and/or an altitudinal cline in a suite of life-history traits. Results failed to detect any environmental maternal effects. However, an altitudinal cline in plant height and above-ground biomass was found to be independent of the maternal environment. [source]


    Thermal acclimation of photosynthesis: a comparison of boreal and temperate tree species along a latitudinal transect

    PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2010
    DYLAN N. DILLAWAY
    ABSTRACT Common gardens were established along a ,900 km latitudinal transect to examine factors limiting geographical distributions of boreal and temperate tree species in eastern North America. Boreal representatives were trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), while temperate species were eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr ex. Marsh var. deltoides) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.). The species were compared with respect to adjustments of leaf photosynthetic metabolism along the transect, with emphasis on temperature sensitivities of the maximum rate of ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylation (EV) and regeneration (EJ). During leaf development, the average air temperature (Tgrowth) differed between the coolest and warmest gardens by 12 °C. Evidence of photosynthetic thermal acclimation (metabolic shifts compensating for differences in Tgrowth) was generally lacking in all species. Namely, neither EV nor EJ was positively related to Tgrowth. Correspondingly, the optimum temperature (Topt) of ambient photosynthesis (Asat) did not vary significantly with Tgrowth. Modest variation in Topt was explained by the combination of EV plus the slope and curvature of the parabolic temperature response of mesophyll conductance (gm). All in all, species differed little in photosynthetic responses to climate. Furthermore, the adaptive importance of photosynthetic thermal acclimation was overshadowed by gm's influence on Asat's temperature response. [source]


    CONTRASTING PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE IN THE NATIVE AND INTRODUCED RANGE OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM

    EVOLUTION, Issue 8 2007
    John L. Maron
    How introduced plants, which may be locally adapted to specific climatic conditions in their native range, cope with the new abiotic conditions that they encounter as exotics is not well understood. In particular, it is unclear what role plasticity versus adaptive evolution plays in enabling exotics to persist under new environmental circumstances in the introduced range. We determined the extent to which native and introduced populations of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) are genetically differentiated with respect to leaf-level morphological and physiological traits that allow plants to tolerate different climatic conditions. In common gardens in Washington and Spain, and in a greenhouse, we examined clinal variation in percent leaf nitrogen and carbon, leaf ,13C values (as an integrative measure of water use efficiency), specific leaf area (SLA), root and shoot biomass, root/shoot ratio, total leaf area, and leaf area ratio (LAR). As well, we determined whether native European H. perforatum experienced directional selection on leaf-level traits in the introduced range and we compared, across gardens, levels of plasticity in these traits. In field gardens in both Washington and Spain, native populations formed latitudinal clines in percent leaf N. In the greenhouse, native populations formed latitudinal clines in root and shoot biomass and total leaf area, and in the Washington garden only, native populations also exhibited latitudinal clines in percent leaf C and leaf ,13C. Traits that failed to show consistent latitudinal clines instead exhibited significant phenotypic plasticity. Introduced St. John's Wort populations also formed significant or marginally significant latitudinal clines in percent leaf N in Washington and Spain, percent leaf C in Washington, and in root biomass and total leaf area in the greenhouse. In the Washington common garden, there was strong directional selection among European populations for higher percent leaf N and leaf ,13C, but no selection on any other measured trait. The presence of convergent, genetically based latitudinal clines between native and introduced H. perforatum, together with previously published molecular data, suggest that native and exotic genotypes have independently adapted to a broad-scale variation in climate that varies with latitude. [source]


    LIFE-HISTORY DIFFERENTIATION AND THE MAINTENANCE OF MONOECY AND DIOECY IN SAGITTARIA LATIFOLIA (ALISMATACEAE)

    EVOLUTION, Issue 9 2003
    Marcel E. Dorken
    Abstract The existence of monoecious and dioecious populations within plant species is rare. This limits opportunities to investigate the ecological mechanisms responsible for the evolution and maintenance of these contrasting sexual systems. In Sagittaria latifolia, an aquatic flowering plant, monoecious and dioecious populations exist in close geographic proximity but occupy distinct wetland habitats differing in the relative importance of disturbance and competition, respectively. Life-history theory predicts contrasting evolutionary responses to these environmental conditions. We propose that the maintenance of monoecy and dioecy in S. latifolia is governed by ecological selection of divergent life-history strategies in contrasting habitats. Here we evaluate this hypothesis by comparing components of growth and reproduction between monoecious and dioecious populations under four conditions: natural populations, a uniform glasshouse environment, a common garden in which monoecious and dioecious populations and their F1 progeny were compared, and a transplant experiment using shaded and unshaded plots in a freshwater marsh. Plants from dioecious populations were larger in size and produced heavier corms in comparison with monoecious populations. Monoecious populations flowered earlier and produced more flowers, clonal ramets, and corms than dioecious populations. The life-history differences between the sexual systems were shown to have a quantitative genetic basis, with F1 progeny generally exhibiting intermediate trait values. Survival was highest for each sexual system in field plots that most closely resembled the habitats in which monoecious (unshaded) and dioecious (shaded) populations grow. These results demonstrate that monoecious and dioecious populations exhibit contrasting patterns of investment in traits involved with growth and reproduction. Selection for divergent life histories between monoecious and dioecious populations of S. latifolia appears to be the principal mechanism maintaining the integrity of the two sexual systems in areas of geographic overlap. [source]


    Rapid evolution in crop-weed hybrids under artificial selection for divergent life histories

    EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2009
    Lesley G. Campbell
    Abstract When species hybridize, offspring typically exhibit reduced fitness and maladapted phenotypes. This situation has biosafety implications regarding the unintended spread of novel transgenes, and risk assessments of crop-wild hybrids often assume that poorly adapted hybrid progeny will not evolve adaptive phenotypes. We explored the evolutionary potential of early generation hybrids using nontransgenic wild and cultivated radish (Raphanus raphanistrum, Raphanus sativus) as a model system. We imposed four generations of selection for two weedy traits , early flowering or large size , and measured responses in a common garden in Michigan, USA. Under selection for early flowering, hybrids evolved to flower as early as wild lineages, which changed little. These early-flowering hybrids also recovered wild-type pollen fertility, suggesting a genetic correlation that could accelerate the loss of crop traits when a short life cycle is advantageous. Under selection for large size at reproduction, hybrids evolved longer leaves faster than wild lineages, a potentially advantageous phenotype under longer growing seasons. Although early generation hybrid offspring have reduced fitness, our findings provide novel support for rapid adaptation in crop-wild hybrid populations. Biosafety risk assessment programs should consider the possibility of rapid evolution of weedy traits from early generations of seemingly unfit crop-wild hybrids. [source]


    Xylem root and shoot hydraulics is linked to life history type in chaparral seedlings

    FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
    Robert B. Pratt
    Summary 1.,Shrubs in fire prone chaparral communities have evolved different life history types in response to fire. A key to understanding the evolution of life history type differences is to understand how physiological traits are linked to differences in life history type. Vascular adaptations are important for delivering an efficient and stable water supply to evergreen chaparral shrub leaves. This study tested for a link between vascular physiology and life history type in chaparral shrubs. 2.,Chaparral shrub species along the south-western coast of North America survive wildfire by three different life histories. Non-sprouters are killed by fire and re-establish exclusively through germination of fire-stimulated seeds, facultative sprouters re-establish by a combination of vegetative sprouting and fire-stimulated seeds, and obligate sprouters re-establish exclusively by vegetative sprouting because their seeds do not survive fire. Non-sprouters and facultative sprouters establish seedlings in the open canopy post fire environment, whereas obligate sprouters establish seedlings in the shady understory of the mature chaparral canopy. 3.,Seedlings of nine species (Rhamnaceae) representing three each of the different life history types were grown in deep containers in a common garden under treatments of sun and shade. Hydraulic conductance was measured using a high-pressure flow meter for all organs, and a vacuum technique was used to measure conductance of fine and woody roots. We predicted that non-sprouters would exhibit greater hydraulic efficiency than the sprouting species, and that facultative sprouters would be more efficient than the shade tolerant obligate sprouters. 4.,Non-sprouters had the greatest hydraulic conductance per unit leaf and sapwood area at the whole seedling level, whereas facultative and obligate sprouters were not different. Comparing hydraulic conductance across major organs (from fine roots to leaves) showed that the hydraulic system was well coordinated. At the whole seedling level, the root system was more of a bottleneck than the shoot system. This pattern was consistent with high resistance extraxylary pathways in roots and differences in root architecture. 5.,The greater hydraulic efficiency of the non-sprouter life history type is attributed to its post-fire pioneering habit and may partially explain the relatively high speciation in the non-sprouters. Lower hydraulic efficiency is associated with a sprouting life history and greater shade tolerance. The seedling root systems represent a hydraulic bottleneck that may place roots under especially intense selection. [source]


    How relevant are instantaneous measurements for assessing resource depletion under plant cover?

    FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
    A test on light, soil water availability in 18 herbaceous communities
    Summary 1Quantifying the amount of resources remaining under plant cover is essential for assessing plant,plant interactions or biological invasions. Although resource levels fluctuate in time, their quantification is performed mainly by instantaneous measurements. We investigated how instantaneous measurements are related to the amount of resources cumulated throughout one growing season, measuring parameters of both light and soil water depletion. 2During a growing season, we measured regularly light and soil water levels under the cover of 18 plant species grown as monocultures in a common garden. The temporal dynamics of light and soil water depletion were assessed within each monoculture using mechanistic modelling approaches. 3The total amounts of resources remaining over the year under the range of communities were best predicted by instantaneous measurements performed at critical periods, differing among resources. The significance of prediction decreased dramatically for other dates, including the period of peak production, but without changing the ranking of communities according to ability to deplete resources. We therefore recommend that such measurements should be limited to qualitative studies, and that mechanistic modelling for quantitative assessments should be developed. [source]


    Ecotype adaptation and acclimation of leaf traits to rainfall in 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at two common gardens

    FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2006
    C. R. WARREN
    Summary 1Relationships of leaf traits with rainfall at the place of origin of seed (RPO) are a function of acclimation and adaptation. To disentangle these effects we studied 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at a productive and an unproductive common garden (mean annual increments of above-ground stem volume = 21 ± 11 and 8 ± 5 m3 ha,1 years,1, respectively). We tested three hypotheses: (i) leaf traits vary between sites, but relationships among them do not; (ii) relationships of leaf traits with RPO do not vary between sites; and (iii) ecotypes originating from low-rainfall areas allocate a small fraction of nitrogen to thylakoid proteins and Rubisco, and have small SLA, small and narrow leaves, and large water-use efficiency (WUE). 2Eleven leaf traits (leaf area, leaf thickness, leaf width/length, specific leaf area, fresh weight/dry weight, N, chlorophyll a/b, carotenoids/chlorophyll, thylakoid N%, Rubisco N%, WUE derived from 13C content) were measured in 1-year-old sun leaves. 3Site had a large effect on not only the absolute values of leaf traits, but also relationships between pairs of traits. There were 20 significant correlations between pairs of traits. Three of the correlations had different slopes between sites, while a further nine had different intercepts. Hence the majority of significant correlations were not independent of site. 4Leaf area and leaf width/length were the only traits related to RPO. There was no evidence that N allocation to Rubisco or thylakoid proteins was related to RPO, or that WUE was greater in ecotypes from dry areas. 5For Eucalyptus, and perhaps other genera, physiological leaf traits may play a minor role in adaptation to water availability. There is large phenotypic plasticity in many leaf traits affecting not only the absolute values of traits, but also relationships among them. [source]


    Hydraulic differentiation of Ponderosa pine populations along a climate gradient is not associated with ecotypic divergence

    FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2002
    H. Maherali
    Summary 1.,Pinus ponderosa occurs in a range of contrasting environments in the western USA. Xeric populations typically have lower leaf : sapwood area ratio (AL/AS) and higher whole-tree leaf specific hydraulic conductance (KL) than mesic populations. These climate-driven shifts in hydraulic architecture are considered adaptive because they maintain minimum leaf water potential above levels that cause xylem cavitation. 2.,Using a common garden study, we examined whether differences in biomass allocation and hydraulic architecture between P. ponderosa populations originating from isolated outcrops in the Great Basin desert and Sierran montane environments were caused by ecotypic differentiation or phenotypic plasticity. To determine if populations were genetically differentiated and if phenotypic and genetic differentiation coincided, we also characterized the genetic structure of these populations using DNA microsatellites. 3.,Phenotypic differentiation in growth, biomass allocation and hydraulic architecture was variable among populations in the common garden. There were no systematic differences between desert and montane climate groups that were consistent with adaptive expectations. Drought had no effect on the root : shoot and needle : stem ratio, but reduced seedling biomass accumulation, leaf area ratio, AL/AS and KL. Stem hydraulic conductance (KH) was strongly size-dependent, and was lower in droughted plants, primarily because of lower growth. 4.,Although microsatellites were able to detect significant non-zero (P < 0·001) levels of differentiation between populations, these differences were small and were not correlated with geographic separation or climate group. Estimates of genetic differentiation among populations were low (<5%), and almost all the genetic variation (>95%) resided within populations, suggesting that gene flow was the dominant factor shaping genetic structure. 5.,These results indicate that biomass allocation and hydraulic differences between desert and montane populations are not the result of ecotypic differentiation. Significant drought effects on leaf : sapwood allocation and KL suggest that phenotypic differentiation between desert and montane climates could be the result of phenotypic plasticity. [source]


    Resource allocation to defence and growth are driven by different responses to generalist and specialist herbivory in an invasive plant

    JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
    Wei Huang
    Summary 1.,Invasive plants often have novel biotic interactions in their introduced ranges. These interactions, including less frequent herbivore attacks, may convey a competitive advantage over native plants. Invasive plants may vary in defence strategies (resistance vs. tolerance) or in response to the type of herbivore (generalists vs. specialists), but no study to date has examined this broad set of traits simultaneously. 2.,Here, we examined resistance and tolerance of Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) populations from the introduced and native ranges to generalist (Cnidocampa flavescens) and specialist herbivores (Gadirtha inexacta) in the native range. 3.,In a field common-garden test of resistance, caterpillars of each species were raised on plants from native and invasive populations. We found the specialist grew larger on and consumed more mass of invasive plant populations than native populations, while the generalist showed the same performance between them. The results were consistent with our laboratory bioassay using excised leaves. Chemical analyses showed that the invasive plants had lower tannin content and higher ratio of carbohydrate to protein than those of their native counterparts, suggesting that plants from invasive populations have altered chemistry that has a larger impact on specialist than on generalist resistance. 4.,To test for differences in herbivore tolerance, plants were first defoliated by specialist or generalist herbivory and then allowed to regrow for 100 days in a field common garden. We found that plants from invasive populations had greater herbivore tolerance than native populations, especially for tolerance to generalists. They also grew more rapidly than native counterparts in the absence of herbivory. 5.,Synthesis. The results of these experiments indicate that differences in selective pressures between ranges have caused dramatic reductions in resistance to specialist herbivores and those changes in plant secondary chemistry likely underlie these differences. The greater tolerance of invasive populations to herbivory appears to at least partly reflect an increase in growth rate in the introduced range. The greater tolerance to generalist herbivores suggests the intriguing possibility of selection for traits that allow plants to tolerate generalist herbivores more than specialist herbivores. [source]


    Reduced reproductive success and offspring survival in fragmented populations of the forest herb Phyteuma spicatum

    JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2005
    ANNETTE KOLB
    Summary 1Habitat fragmentation, which reduces the size and increases the isolation of populations, is a major threat to biodiversity. For Phyteuma spicatum, a self-incompatible, rare understorey herb in deciduous forests of north-western Germany, I tested the hypotheses that: (i) fitness (in terms of reproductive success) is reduced in small or isolated populations, (ii) reproduction in small populations is reduced by pollen limitation and (iii) genetic effects cause fitness reductions in small populations. 2I compared the reproductive success of plants of Phyteuma in 14 populations of different size and degree of isolation. Seed production was, as predicted, positively related to population size but was also influenced by plant size, although not by population isolation, density or habitat quality. 3I performed supplemental hand-pollinations in 10 of the 14 populations using pollen from the same population (test for pollen quantity) or from another large population (pollen quality). The proportional difference in seed production between hand-pollinated plants and open-pollinated controls increased with decreasing population size, indicating pollinator limitation of reproduction in small populations. There was no difference between the two hand-pollination treatments, suggesting that a sufficient number of cross-compatible mates was available even in the smallest populations. 4Progeny from the 14 populations were grown for 32 weeks in a common environment. There was no effect of population size on germination, but final seedling survival was positively related to population size, and this relationship was more pronounced in the glasshouse than under more favourable growing conditions in a common garden. Genetic effects may thus reduce fitness (here measured in terms of survival) in plants from small populations, making them more susceptible to environmental stress. 5The results suggest that both reproduction and offspring performance may be reduced in small populations even of long-lived species such as Phyteuma spicatum. Different processes, such as pollen limitation and genetic deterioration, may interact and affect local population dynamics and the persistence of species in fragmented landscapes. [source]


    The regulation of ecosystem functions by ecotypic variation in the dominant plant: a Spartina alterniflora salt-marsh case study

    JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2002
    Denise M. Seliskar
    Summary 1Genetic differences among populations of a keystone species may affect ecosystem functional properties. We tested this by planting Spartina alterniflora from different geographical regions in a newly created salt marsh in Delaware, USA. 2Spartina alterniflora plants from morphologically distinct short-form (back marsh) populations were originally collected from Massachusetts (41°34, N), Delaware (38°47, N), and Georgia (31°25, N) in the USA and vegetatively propagated for 6 years in a salt water-irrigated common garden in Delaware before transfer to a newly created salt marsh. 3The magnitude of the expression of marsh functions in the created marsh, measured over 5 years, remained distinct in patches of each ecotype. End of season aerial biomass, below-ground biomass, root and rhizome distribution, canopy height, stem density, and carbohydrate reserves were closer to values reported for the plants' native sites than to those typical of Delaware. Thus, many of the plant features characteristic of particular latitudes appear to be under genetic control. Such ecotypic differentiation influences ecosystem function through keystone resource and keystone modifier activities. 4Respiration of the microbial community associated with either dead shoots or the soil varied with plant ecotype in the created wetland and the patterns reflected those reported for their native sites. High edaphic respiration under the Massachusetts ecotype was correlated with the high percentage of sugar in the rhizomes. Edaphic chlorophyll was greater under the canopies of the Massachusetts and Delaware ecotypes than under the Georgia canopy and exhibited a relationship similar to that of algal production rates reported for the native sites. Larval fish were most abundant in pit traps in the Massachusetts ecotype. [source]


    Genetic variation in flowering phenology and avoidance of seed predation in native populations of Ulex europaeus

    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    A. ATLAN
    Abstract The genetic variation in flowering phenology may be an important component of a species' capacity to colonize new environments. In native populations of the invasive species Ulex europaeus, flowering phenology has been shown to be bimodal and related to seed predation. The aim of the present study was to determine if this bimodality has a genetic basis, and to investigate whether the polymorphism in flowering phenology is genetically linked to seed predation, pod production and growth patterns. We set up an experiment raising maternal families in a common garden. Based on mixed analyses of variance and correlations among maternal family means, we found genetic differences between the two main flowering types and confirmed that they reduced seed predation in two different ways: escape in time or predator satiation. We suggest that this polymorphism in strategy may facilitate maintain high genetic diversity for flowering phenology and related life-history traits in native populations of this species, hence providing high evolutionary potential for these traits in invaded areas. [source]


    An explicit test for the contribution of environmental maternal effects to rapid clinal differentiation in an invasive plant

    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009
    A. MONTY
    Abstract Population differentiation of alien invasive plants within their non-native range has received increasingly more attention. Common gardens are typically used to assess the levels of genotypic differentiation among populations. However, in such experiments, environmental maternal effects can influence phenotypic variation among individuals if seed sources are collected from field populations under variable environmental regimes. In the present study, we investigated the causes of an altitudinal cline in an invasive plant. Seeds were collected from Senecio inaequidens (Asteraceae) populations along an altitudinal gradient in southern France. In addition, seeds from the same populations were generated by intra-population crossings in a climatic chamber. The two seed lots were grown in a common garden in Central Belgium to identify any evidence of environmentally induced maternal effects and/or an altitudinal cline in a suite of life-history traits. Results failed to detect any environmental maternal effects. However, an altitudinal cline in plant height and above-ground biomass was found to be independent of the maternal environment. [source]


    Spatially structured genetic variation in a broadcast spawning bivalve: quantitative vs. molecular traits

    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2003
    P. C. Luttikhuizen
    Abstract Understanding the origin, maintenance and significance of phenotypic variation is one of the central issues in evolutionary biology. An ongoing discussion focuses on the relative roles of isolation and selection as being at the heart of genetically based spatial variation. We address this issue in a representative of a taxon group in which isolation is unlikely: a marine broadcast spawning invertebrate. During the free-swimming larval phase, dispersal is potentially very large. For such taxa, small-scale population genetic structuring in neutral molecular markers tends to be limited, conform expectations. Small-scale differentiation of selective traits is expected to be hindered by the putatively high gene flow. We determined the geographical distribution of molecular markers and of variation in a shell shape measure, globosity, for the bivalve Macoma balthica (L.) in the western Dutch Wadden Sea and adjacent North Sea in three subsequent years, and found that shells of this clam are more globose in the Wadden Sea. By rearing clams in a common garden in the laboratory starting from the gamete phase, we show that the ecotypes are genetically different; heritability is estimated at 23%. The proportion of total genetic variation that is between sites is much larger for the morphological additive genetic variation (QST = 0.416) than for allozyme (FST = 0.000,0.022) and mitochondrial DNA cytochrome- c -oxidase-1 sequence variation (,ST = 0.017). Divergent selection must be involved and intraspecific spatial genetic differentiation in marine broadcast spawners is apparently not constrained by low levels of isolation. [source]


    Latitudinal population differentiation in phenology, life history and flower morphology in the perennial herb Lythrum salicaria

    JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
    K. Olsson
    Abstract In plants with a wide distribution, phenological characters can be expected to vary clinally along climatic gradients, whereas other characters important for adaptation to local biotic and abiotic factors may vary in a more mosaic fashion. We used common-garden experiments and controlled crosses to examine population differentiation in phenology, life history and morphology in the perennial herb Lythrum salicaria along a latitudinal transect through Sweden (57°N to 66°N). Northern populations initiated growth and flowering earlier, flowered for a shorter period, were shorter, produced more and larger winter buds, and were older at first reproduction than southern populations. Flower morphology varied significantly among populations, but was, with the exception of calyx length, not significantly related to latitude of origin. Survival in the common garden (at 63°49,N) was positively correlated with latitude of origin and the size and number of winter buds produced in the preceding year. The results suggest that the among-population differences in phenology and life history have evolved in response to latitudinal variation in length of the growing season. Further studies are required to determine whether population differentiation in flower morphology is maintained by selection. [source]


    Do exotic generalist predators alter host plant preference of a native willow beetle?

    AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
    Dong H. Cha
    Abstract 1,Selection can favour herbivores that choose host plants benefitting their offspring either by enhancing growth rates or by increasing larval defences against native predators. For exotic predator species that feed on herbivores, their success with invading new habitats may depend upon overcoming defences used by native prey. Whether exotic predators can alter herbivore host choice has remained unexamined. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of larval defence by Chrysomela knabi (a native beetle species) that had fed on two native willow hosts: Salix sericea (a phenolic glycoside (PG)-rich species) and Salix eriocephala (a PG-poor species), when attacked by exotic generalist predators. In addition, the preference and performance of C. knabi on S. sericea and S. eriocephala was examined. 2,Chrysomela knabi preferred and performed better on S. sericea. In a common garden, adult C. knabi were nine-fold more common and oviposited five-fold more frequently on S. sericea than on S. eriocephala. In the laboratory, adult feeding preference on leaf discs and survival rates of larvae were both greater on S. sericea, and time to pupation was shorter. 3,Chrysomela knabi larvae produced significantly more salicylaldehyde when fed S. sericea leaves than when fed S. eriocephala leaves. Additionally, those larvae with greater salicylaldehyde had reduced predation by two exotic generalist predators, Harmonia axyridis larvae and juvenile Tenodera aridifolia sinensis. 4,The results obtained in the present study suggest that selection favoured the preference of C. knabi for PG-rich willow plants because larvae grew and survived better and that selection by common exotic generalist predators would reinforce this preference. [source]


    Seasonal differences in photosynthesis between the C3 and C4 subspecies of Alloteropsis semialata are offset by frost and drought

    PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 7 2008
    DOUGLAS G. IBRAHIM
    ABSTRACT The regional abundance of C4 grasses is strongly controlled by temperature, however, the role of precipitation is less clear. Progress in elucidating the direct effects of photosynthetic pathway on these climate relationships is hindered by the significant genetic divergence between major C3 and C4 grass lineages. We addressed this problem by examining seasonal climate responses of photosynthesis in Alloteropsis semialata, a unique grass species with both C3 and C4 subspecies. Experimental manipulation of rainfall in a common garden in South Africa tested the hypotheses that: (1) photosynthesis is greater in the C4 than C3 subspecies under high summer temperatures, but this pattern is reversed at low winter temperatures; and (2) the photosynthetic advantage of C4 plants is enhanced during drought events. Measurements of leaf gas exchange over 2 years showed a significant photosynthetic advantage for the C4 subspecies under irrigated conditions from spring through autumn. However, the C4 leaves were killed by winter frost, while photosynthesis continued in the C3 plants. Unexpectedly, the C4 subspecies also lost its photosynthetic advantage during natural drought events, despite greater water-use efficiency under irrigated conditions. This study highlights previously unrecognized roles for climatic extremes in determining the ecological success of C3 and C4 grasses. [source]


    Differential and reversible responses of common fen meadow species to abandonment

    APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003
    Regula Billeter
    Binz & Heitz (1990) Abstract. We studied the effects of abandonment on two common fen plant species. In mown and a chronosequence of abandoned fen meadows spanning 35 yr, we measured fitness traits of the sedge Carex davalliana and the forb Succisa pratensis. Cessation of mowing had little effect on fitness traits and seed production of C. davalliana, but seedling density decreased more than threefold. Population density of S. pratensis decreased with increasing community biomass, but was not affected by the cessation of mowing. However, flowering frequency increased threefold and seed production was 20% higher in fallow meadows. Consequently, seedling density of S. pratensis increased nearly threefold after abandonment. However, these changes were not dependent on the age of the fallow. In a common garden and germination experiment, we found no differences in either species between plants from fallows and mown fen meadows, except for the height of the flowering stalk of S. pratensis. The combined results from the common garden experiment and the field studies indicate that changes in fitness traits observed in fallows were mostly phenotypic and likely to be reversible. If other species react in similar ways, there is a high potential for re-establishing traditional fen meadow communities from fallows by mowing. [source]


    Leaf Chemical and Optical Properties of Metrosideros polymorpha Across Environmental Gradients in Hawaii

    BIOTROPICA, Issue 3 2009
    Roberta E. Martin
    ABSTRACT Leaf chemical, biophysical, and optical properties were measured in 13 populations of Metrosideros polymorpha across gradients of soil fertility and climate in Hawaii. Climate (predominantly temperature) caused large changes in specific leaf area (SLA) and SLA-linked traits, including nitrogen (N) and pigment contents, as did conditions of highest soil fertility on 20 ky old substrates. When averaged by site, chemical constituent ratios containing chlorophyll (Car/Chl, Chl/N) varied more across climate than substrate gradients, while the Chl a/b ratio was similarly influenced by climate and substrate. Variations in Chl a/b ratios and SLA were similar to those found previously in a common garden of M. polymorpha taken from our climate gradient, suggesting strong genetic control over these traits. Optical reflectance indices related to photosynthetic function were closely correlated to pigment changes, varying three times more in response to climate than across substrate ages. Combined, our results suggest that variation in leaf structure, composition, and function of M. polymorpha is a result of genetic and phenotypic adaptation to environmental differences, and that these variations are greater in response to climate (especially temperature) than to soil fertility. [source]


    An ecological cost of plant defence: attractiveness of bitter cucumber plants to natural enemies of herbivores

    ECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2002
    Anurag A. Agrawal
    Abstract Plants produce defences that act directly on herbivores and indirectly via the attraction of natural enemies of herbivores. We examined the pleiotropic effects of direct chemical defence production on indirect defence employing near-isogenic varieties of cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus) that differ qualitatively in the production of terpenoid cucurbitacins, the most bitter compounds known. In release,recapture experiments conducted in greenhouse common gardens, blind predatory mites were attracted to plants infested by herbivorous mites. Infested sweet plants (lacking cucurbitacins), however, attracted 37% more predatory mites than infested bitter plants (that produce constitutive and inducible cucurbitacins). Analysis of the headspace of plants revealed that production of cucurbitacins was genetically correlated with large increases in the qualitative and quantitative spectrum of volatile compounds produced by plants, including induced production of (E,)-,-ocimene (3E,)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, (E,E)-,-farnesene, and methyl salicylate, all known to be attractants of predators. Nevertheless, plants that produced cucurbitacins were less attractive to predatory mites than plants that lacked cucurbitacins and predators were also half as fecund on these bitter plants. Thus, we provide novel evidence for an ecological trade-off between direct and indirect plant defence. This cost of defence is mediated by the effects of cucurbitacins on predator fecundity and potentially by the production of volatile compounds that may be repellent to predators. [source]


    ADAPTIVE POPULATION DIFFERENTIATION IN PHENOLOGY ACROSS A LATITUDINAL GRADIENT IN EUROPEAN ASPEN (POPULUS TREMULA, L.): A COMPARISON OF NEUTRAL MARKERS, CANDIDATE GENES AND PHENOTYPIC TRAITS

    EVOLUTION, Issue 12 2007
    David Hall
    A correct timing of growth cessation and dormancy induction represents a critical ecological and evolutionary trade-off between survival and growth in most forest trees (Rehfeldt et al. 1999; Horvath et al. 2003; Howe et al. 2003). We have studied the deciduous tree European Aspen (Populus tremula) across a latitudinal gradient and compared genetic differentiation in phenology traits with molecular markers. Trees from 12 different areas covering 10 latitudinal degrees were cloned and planted in two common gardens. Several phenology traits showed strong genetic differentiation and clinal variation across the latitudinal gradient, with QST values generally exceeding 0.5. This is in stark contrast to genetic differentiation at several classes of genetic markers (18 neutral SSRs, 7 SSRs located close to phenology candidate genes and 50 SNPs from five phenology candidate genes) that all showed FST values around 0.015. We thus find strong evidence for adaptive divergence in phenology traits across the latitudinal gradient. However, the strong population structure seen at the quantitative traits is not reflected in underlying candidate genes. This result fit theoretical expectations that suggest that genetic differentiation at candidate loci is better described by FST at neutral loci rather than by QST at the quantitative traits themselves. [source]


    CONTRASTING PLANT PHYSIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE IN THE NATIVE AND INTRODUCED RANGE OF HYPERICUM PERFORATUM

    EVOLUTION, Issue 8 2007
    John L. Maron
    How introduced plants, which may be locally adapted to specific climatic conditions in their native range, cope with the new abiotic conditions that they encounter as exotics is not well understood. In particular, it is unclear what role plasticity versus adaptive evolution plays in enabling exotics to persist under new environmental circumstances in the introduced range. We determined the extent to which native and introduced populations of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) are genetically differentiated with respect to leaf-level morphological and physiological traits that allow plants to tolerate different climatic conditions. In common gardens in Washington and Spain, and in a greenhouse, we examined clinal variation in percent leaf nitrogen and carbon, leaf ,13C values (as an integrative measure of water use efficiency), specific leaf area (SLA), root and shoot biomass, root/shoot ratio, total leaf area, and leaf area ratio (LAR). As well, we determined whether native European H. perforatum experienced directional selection on leaf-level traits in the introduced range and we compared, across gardens, levels of plasticity in these traits. In field gardens in both Washington and Spain, native populations formed latitudinal clines in percent leaf N. In the greenhouse, native populations formed latitudinal clines in root and shoot biomass and total leaf area, and in the Washington garden only, native populations also exhibited latitudinal clines in percent leaf C and leaf ,13C. Traits that failed to show consistent latitudinal clines instead exhibited significant phenotypic plasticity. Introduced St. John's Wort populations also formed significant or marginally significant latitudinal clines in percent leaf N in Washington and Spain, percent leaf C in Washington, and in root biomass and total leaf area in the greenhouse. In the Washington common garden, there was strong directional selection among European populations for higher percent leaf N and leaf ,13C, but no selection on any other measured trait. The presence of convergent, genetically based latitudinal clines between native and introduced H. perforatum, together with previously published molecular data, suggest that native and exotic genotypes have independently adapted to a broad-scale variation in climate that varies with latitude. [source]


    Ecotype adaptation and acclimation of leaf traits to rainfall in 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at two common gardens

    FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2006
    C. R. WARREN
    Summary 1Relationships of leaf traits with rainfall at the place of origin of seed (RPO) are a function of acclimation and adaptation. To disentangle these effects we studied 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at a productive and an unproductive common garden (mean annual increments of above-ground stem volume = 21 ± 11 and 8 ± 5 m3 ha,1 years,1, respectively). We tested three hypotheses: (i) leaf traits vary between sites, but relationships among them do not; (ii) relationships of leaf traits with RPO do not vary between sites; and (iii) ecotypes originating from low-rainfall areas allocate a small fraction of nitrogen to thylakoid proteins and Rubisco, and have small SLA, small and narrow leaves, and large water-use efficiency (WUE). 2Eleven leaf traits (leaf area, leaf thickness, leaf width/length, specific leaf area, fresh weight/dry weight, N, chlorophyll a/b, carotenoids/chlorophyll, thylakoid N%, Rubisco N%, WUE derived from 13C content) were measured in 1-year-old sun leaves. 3Site had a large effect on not only the absolute values of leaf traits, but also relationships between pairs of traits. There were 20 significant correlations between pairs of traits. Three of the correlations had different slopes between sites, while a further nine had different intercepts. Hence the majority of significant correlations were not independent of site. 4Leaf area and leaf width/length were the only traits related to RPO. There was no evidence that N allocation to Rubisco or thylakoid proteins was related to RPO, or that WUE was greater in ecotypes from dry areas. 5For Eucalyptus, and perhaps other genera, physiological leaf traits may play a minor role in adaptation to water availability. There is large phenotypic plasticity in many leaf traits affecting not only the absolute values of traits, but also relationships among them. [source]