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Plasticity of functional traits varies clinally along a rainfall gradient in Eucalyptus tricarpa
Author(s) -
MCLEAN ELIZABETH H.,
PROBER SUZANNE M.,
STOCK WILLIAM D.,
STEANE DOROTHY A.,
POTTS BRAD M.,
VAILLANCOURT RENÉ E.,
BYRNE MARGARET
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.12251
Subject(s) - phenotypic plasticity , biology , local adaptation , trait , adaptation (eye) , ecology , habitat , range (aeronautics) , arid , plasticity , environmental gradient , population , materials science , demography , neuroscience , sociology , computer science , composite material , programming language , physics , thermodynamics
Abstract Widespread species often occur across a range of climatic conditions, through a combination of local genetic adaptations and phenotypic plasticity. Species with greater phenotypic plasticity are likely to be better positioned to cope with rapid anthropogenic climate changes, while those displaying strong local adaptations might benefit from translocations to assist the movement of adaptive genes as the climate changes. E ucalyptus tricarpa occurs across a climatic gradient in south‐eastern A ustralia, a region of increasing aridity, and we hypothesized that this species would display local adaptation to climate. We measured morphological and physiological traits reflecting climate responses in nine provenances from sites of 460 to 1040 mm annual rainfall, in their natural habitat and in common gardens near each end of the gradient. Local adaptation was evident in functional traits and differential growth rates in the common gardens. Some traits displayed complex combinations of plasticity and genetic divergence among provenances, including clinal variation in plasticity itself. Provenances from drier locations were more plastic in leaf thickness, whereas leaf size was more plastic in provenances from higher rainfall locations. Leaf density and stomatal physiology (as indicated by δ 13 C and δ 18 O ) were highly and uniformly plastic. In addition to variation in mean trait values, genetic variation in trait plasticity may play a role in climate adaptation.