Abstract
Environmental gradients in alpine systems may lead to differences in both abiotic conditions and species interactions in very short distances. This may lead to reproductive and phenotypic changes in plants to enhance fitness in each environment. In this study, we explored how the Central Andean Viola maculata responds to the elevation gradient, where it is distributed, with an expected increase in water availability and a decrease in pollinator availability with elevation. We hypothesized that: (1) plants would be more water-stressed at low elevations; (2) investment in and success of cleistogamous flowers (closed, self-pollinated) would increase with elevation; and (3) correlation patterns between floral and vegetative traits would vary along the gradient according to changes in biotic/abiotic selection pressures across sites. We partially confirmed the inverse gradient of water stress with elevation, with V. maculata populations in the lowest site experiencing lower soil moisture and showing thicker leaves and lower stomatal conductance. Cleistogamy was more prevalent and successful at the highest site, thus confirming the hypothesis of maintenance of a mixed-mating system as reproductive assurance. Correlation patterns between flower and leaf size differed across sites, with stronger vegetative–floral correlation at the lower sites and a weak correlation at the highest site. This finding disagrees with the notion of pollinators as drivers of correlation between floral and vegetative traits. Our study shows how a narrow gradient in an alpine system may affect not only reproductive and physiological responses in plants, but also floral and vegetative covariances.
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Acknowledgements
The work was supported by a pre-doc fellowship from the Balearic Island Government (FPI/1509/2012), co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). Funding was provided by the International Laboratory of Global Change (LINCGlobal) and by the Ibero-American Young Research’s grants (Santander). We thank Fernando Valladares, for his valuable support for the study to go forward, and Fernanda Pérez, Iñaki Azua, Isidora Sepulveda, Alejandro Dias, and Patricio Andes Valenzuela for their valuable support in the field. Thanks to Yulinka Alcayaga and Mónica Cisternas for their valuable support processing data in the lab. We also thank the staff at National Reserve Altos de Lircay for their help in the field.
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JS and EG conceived and designed the project. JS and CSL collected the data. JS and AL analyzed the data. JS, EG, AT and AL wrote the manuscript.
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35_2017_195_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Images of the habitat and co-occurring plant species at each site. Viola maculata co-occurs mainly by Chusquea coleou and Festuca pallescens at 1950 m, with Mulinum echinus and Berberis empetrifolia at 2200 m, and with Festuca pallescens and Berberis empetrifolia at 2350 m (TIF 27902 KB)
35_2017_195_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Phenology recorded between December 27th and December 29th 2014. Bars represent the percentage of floral buds, opened flowers, developing fruits, and fruits present in each population in those dates (TIF 125 KB)
35_2017_195_MOESM3_ESM.tif
Schematic drawing of a Viola maculata leaf and associated CH flower, illustrating the different plant traits examined in this study (TIF 401 KB)
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Seguí, J., Lázaro, A., Traveset, A. et al. Phenotypic and reproductive responses of an Andean violet to environmental variation across an elevational gradient. Alp Botany 128, 59–69 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-017-0195-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-017-0195-9