Adaptive genetic variation to drought in a widely distributed conifer suggests a potential for increasing forest resilience in a drying climate.

ABSTRACT: Drought intensity and frequency are increasing under global warming, with soil water availability now being a major factor limiting tree growth in circumboreal forests. Still, the adaptive capacity of trees in the face of future climatic regimes remains poorly documented. Using 1481 annually resolved tree-ring series from 29-yr-old trees, we evaluated the drought sensitivity of 43 white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) populations established in a common garden experiment. We show that genetic variation among populations in response to drought plays a significant role in growth resilience. Local genetic adaptation allowed populations from drier geographical origins to grow better, as indicated by higher resilience to extreme drought events, compared with populations from more humid geog

SUBMITTER: Depardieu C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7317761 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature