Native range climate influences nonstructural carbohydrate storage in oak species growing in a common garden.

ABSTRACT: Global climate change and related environmental stress threaten the survival of long-lived tree species. To ensure survival in increasingly unfavorable environments, trees need to either acclimate through phenotypic plasticity, adapt via genetic differentiation, or migrate to more favorable climates altogether. Nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) storage is a critical trait that supports proper metabolic function in plants and has been shown to prolong their survival in the face of stress. However, relatively few studies have explored local adaptation of NSC storage, with none to our knowledge focusing on oaks, an abundant and ecologically important genus primarily across the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we used a common garden of oak species to assess whether NSC storage is locally adapted by

SUBMITTER: Prats KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12254077 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature