Trait differentiation and adaptation of plants along elevation gradients

Halbritter, Aud H.; Fior, Simone; Keller, Irene; Billeter, Regula; Edwards, Peter J.; Holderegger, Rolf; Karrenberg, Sophie; Pluess, Andrea R.; Widmer, Alex; Alexander, Jake M. (2018). Trait differentiation and adaptation of plants along elevation gradients. Journal of evolutionary biology, 31(6), pp. 784-800. Wiley 10.1111/jeb.13262

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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.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Review Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > BioMedical Research (DBMR)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology > Bioinformatics
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Bioinformatics and Computational Biology > Computational Biology

UniBE Contributor:

Keller, Irene (B)

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

1420-9101

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Submitter:

Jolanda Paganoni Zurbrügg

Date Deposited:

11 May 2023 14:47

Last Modified:

11 May 2023 14:56

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/jeb.13262

Related URLs:

PubMed ID:

29518274

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/182466

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/182466

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