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- Title
Weak local adaptation to drought in seedlings of a widespread conifer.
- Authors
Candido‐Ribeiro, Rafael; Aitken, Sally N.
- Abstract
Summary: Tree seedlings from populations native to drier regions are often assumed to be more drought tolerant than those from wetter provenances. However, intraspecific variation in drought tolerance has not been well‐characterized despite being critical for developing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and for predicting the effects of drought on forests.We used a large‐scale common garden drought‐to‐death experiment to assess range‐wide variation in drought tolerance, measured by decline of photosynthetic efficiency, growth, and plastic responses to extreme summer drought in seedlings of 73 natural populations of the two main varieties of Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii and var. glauca).Local adaptation to drought was weak in var. glauca and nearly absent in menziesii. Var. glauca showed higher tolerance to drought but slower growth than var. menziesii. Clinal variation in drought tolerance and growth species‐wide was mainly associated with temperature rather than precipitation. A higher degree of plasticity for growth was observed in var. menziesii in response to extreme drought.Genetic variation for drought tolerance in seedlings within varieties is maintained primarily within populations. Selective breeding within populations may facilitate adaptation to drought more than assisted gene flow.
- Subjects
DROUGHTS; CLIMATE change adaptation; DROUGHT tolerance; CLIMATE change mitigation; GENE flow; TREE seedlings
- Publication
New Phytologist, 2024, Vol 241, Issue 6, p2395
- ISSN
0028-646X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/nph.19543