Trait differentiation and adaptation of plants along elevation gradients.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_F93CB498D71D
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Review (review): journal as complete as possible of one specific subject, written based on exhaustive analyses from published work.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Trait differentiation and adaptation of plants along elevation gradients.
Journal
Journal of evolutionary biology
Author(s)
Halbritter A.H., Fior S., Keller I., Billeter R., Edwards P.J., Holderegger R., Karrenberg S., Pluess A.R., Widmer A., Alexander J.M.
ISSN
1420-9101 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1010-061X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
06/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
31
Number
6
Pages
784-800
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Review
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Studies of genetic adaptation in plant populations along elevation gradients in mountains have a long history, but there has until now been neither a synthesis of how frequently plant populations exhibit adaptation to elevation nor an evaluation of how consistent underlying trait differences across species are. We reviewed studies of adaptation along elevation gradients (i) from a meta-analysis of phenotypic differentiation of three traits (height, biomass and phenology) from plants growing in 70 common garden experiments; (ii) by testing elevation adaptation using three fitness proxies (survival, reproductive output and biomass) from 14 reciprocal transplant experiments; (iii) by qualitatively assessing information at the molecular level, from 10 genomewide surveys and candidate gene approaches. We found that plants originating from high elevations were generally shorter and produced less biomass, but phenology did not vary consistently. We found significant evidence for elevation adaptation in terms of survival and biomass, but not for reproductive output. Variation in phenotypic and fitness responses to elevation across species was not related to life history traits or to environmental conditions. Molecular studies, which have focussed mainly on loci related to plant physiology and phenology, also provide evidence for adaptation along elevation gradients. Together, these studies indicate that genetically based trait differentiation and adaptation to elevation are widespread in plants. We conclude that a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying adaptation, not only to elevation but also to environmental change, will require more studies combining the ecological and molecular approaches.
Keywords
Adaptation, Physiological/genetics, Altitude, Biological Evolution, Plant Physiological Phenomena/genetics, Plants/classification, altitude, candidate loci, cline, common garden, genomewide data, reciprocal transplant experiment
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
28/06/2018 9:54
Last modification date
11/10/2019 5:09
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