Environmental and genetic control of phenotypic adaptation to drought in Potentilla glandulosa Lindl.

Summary

Two populations of Potentilla glandulosa (Rosaceae) have strongly contrasting abilities to seasonally modify their phenotypic sensitivity to drought by low temperature-induced changes in leaf morphology. One population is native to an inland continental climate with unpredictable droughts occurring at any time during the year. The second population is native to a coastal mediterranean climate with a highly predictable annual cycle of winter rain and summer drought. In response to low temperatures in the autumn, the inland plants produce a compact rosette of small leaves and shed their large summer leaves, thereby reducing the total plant leaf area. The inland plants begin growth in the spring in the compact rosette phenotype and are much less sensitive to drought, maintaining higher values of stomatal conductance and leaf water potential, than when in the largeleaved summer phenotype. The coastal plants do not exhibit the low temperature-induced change in leaf morphology and are relatively sensitive to drought when grown at high or low temperatures. The F₁ hybrids of a coastal x inland cross exhibit an intermediate response to low temperature and drought. In the F₂ generation the inland parental class of individuals fully responding to low temperature segregates in a 1:63 ratio.