Plastic and genetic responses of a common sedge to warming have contrasting effects on carbon cycle processes.

ABSTRACT: Climate warming affects plant physiology through genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, but little is known about how these mechanisms influence ecosystem processes. We used three elevation gradients and a reciprocal transplant experiment to show that temperature causes genetic change in the sedge Eriophorum vaginatum. We demonstrate that plants originating from warmer climate produce fewer secondary compounds, grow faster and accelerate carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) release to the atmosphere. However, warmer climate also caused plasticity in E. vaginatum, inhibiting nitrogen metabolism, photosynthesis and growth and slowing CO₂ release into the atmosphere. Genetic differentiation and plasticity in E. vaginatum thus had opposing effects on CO₂ fluxes, sugges

SUBMITTER: Walker TWN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6334510 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature