Intraspecific Niche Evolution in a Drought Deciduous Shrub With Implications for Climate Resiliency.

ABSTRACT: Whitebrush (Aloysia gratissima) is a drought deciduous shrub species with two geographically distinct populations occurring in North and South America where they experience different climatic conditions. This scenario of isolated populations existing under different climatic conditions provides an opportunity to explore the use of species distribution models (SDMs) to identify and classify climatic niche evolution. Our goal was to identify intraspecific patterns of niche evolution by exploring the variation in environmental variables that underlie and constrain distributions and then apply this information to provide insight on variation in species response to changing conditions at the population level. We conducted a principal component analysis to compare climatic conditions pres

SUBMITTER: Pennartz KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12778428 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature