Phenotypic plasticity in wild Camellia japonica across climatic zones: responses to variations in soil moisture and light intensity.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Phenotypic plasticity is recognized as the important driver of adapting to the heterogeneous habitats and environment changes. The climate variability hypothesis suggests that plant populations in high latitudes experience greater environmental fluctuations and may exhibit higher phenotypic plasticity. Wild Camellia japonica is an important but small number of species, which is mainly distributed in warm-temperature and subtropical zones of China, yet it is not clear how its different populations have adapted to environmental changes.

Methods

In our study, wild C. japonica from both zones were subjected to three soil moisture levels and two light intensity levels in the common garden experiments. We focused on examining the morphological and physiological

SUBMITTER: Liu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12403372 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature