Local adaptation of seed and seedling traits along a natural aridity gradient may both predict and constrain adaptive responses to climate change.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Variation in seed and seedling traits underlies how plants interact with their environment during establishment, a crucial life history stage. We quantified genetic-based variation in seed and seedling traits in populations of the annual plant Plantago patagonica across a natural aridity gradient, leveraging natural intraspecific variation to predict how populations might evolve in response to increasing aridity associated with climate change in the Southwestern U.S.

Methods

We quantified seed size, seed size variation, germination timing, and specific leaf area in a greenhouse common garden, and related these traits to the climates of source populations. We then conducted a terminal drought experiment to determine which traits were most predictive of survival under

SUBMITTER: Christie K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9828382 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature