Plant Systematics and Evolution

, Volume 304, Issue 5, pp 607–617 | Cite as

Past climatic fluctuations are associated with morphological differentiation in the cloud forest endemic tree Ocotea psychotrioides (Lauraceae)

  • Andrés Ernesto Ortiz-Rodríguez
  • Santiago Ramírez-Barahona
  • Dolores González Hernández
  • Francisco Lorea-Hernández
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Pleistocene glacial periods have had a major influence on the geographical patterns of genetic structure of species in tropical montane regions. However, their effect on morphological differentiation among populations of cloud forest plants remains virtually unexplored. Here, we address this question by testing whether geographical patterns of morphological variation in Ocotea psychotrioides can be explained by the intensity of climate change occurring during 130,000 years. For this, we measured vegetative and reproductive traits for 96 individuals from 36 localities registered across the species’ distribution range. Species distribution models and multivariate statistics were used to investigate geographical patterns of morphological variation and test their association with current and past climatic conditions. Leaf size and pubescence in O. psychotrioides showed a latitudinal pattern of clinal variation that does not fit the geographical gradient of increasing leaf size towards lower latitudes observed globally among plants. Instead, the observed clinal variation conforms to a pattern of increasing leaf size towards higher latitudes. However, our analyses showed weak to non-significant association between morphology and current climate. Interestingly, our analyses showed that predicted shifts in the distribution range of O. psychotrioides during the last 130,000 years were accompanied by significant changes in climatic conditions, particularly temperature seasonality and precipitation. Accordingly, climatic instability showed a better fit to the observed patterns of leaf size and pubescence variation than current climate conditions. These results suggest that climatic instability during the Pleistocene glacial periods might play a key role in promoting morphological differentiation among populations of cloud forest plants.

Keywords

Climatic stability Clinal variation Ecological niche models Leaf size Pleistocene glacial cycles 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We thank Carlos Durán, Sergio Avendaño and Manuel Escamilla for field and laboratory support. During the development of this work Eduardo Ruiz Sánchez, Teresa Terrazas and Yuyini Licona Vera made valuable criticisms and suggestions. We also thank the directors and curators of the following herbaria for making specimens of O. psychotrioides available for this study: ENCB, F, IEB, INB, K, MEXU, MICH, MO, NY, HUAP and XAL. This study was supported by the master scholarship CONACyT-294119 of the first author.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andrés Ernesto Ortiz-Rodríguez
    • 1
  • Santiago Ramírez-Barahona
    • 2
  • Dolores González Hernández
    • 3
  • Francisco Lorea-Hernández
    • 3
  1. 1.Departamento de Biología EvolutivaInstituto de Ecología, A.C.XalapaMexico
  2. 2.Departamento BotánicaInstituto de BiologíaCiudad de MéxicoMexico
  3. 3.Departamento de Biodiversidad y SistemáticaInstituto de Ecología, A.C.XalapaMexico

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