How might edaphic specialists in gypsum islands respond to climate change? Reciprocal sowing experiment to infer local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity are considered key mechanisms for coping with climate warming, especially for plant species that inhabit island-like habitats. In Spain a complete guild of edaphic specialists, most of them threatened, occurs in gypsum outcrops, but how these species will respond to climate change has received little attention.

Methods

A reciprocal sowing experiment was performed to determine the extent of local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in five gypsophytes with contrasting distributions along a climate gradient. Germination, seedling growth and survival were recorded during a 4-year period.

Key results

Plants responded plastically according to their positions along the regional climate gradient, as well as loca

SUBMITTER: Sanchez AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737687 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature